The Prince of the Moon Kingdom
by Trooper0007
Summary: Alexander Harris had always considered himself unusual for multiple reasons like the fact that he lived on top of a portal that led straight to hell. Never would he have considered the possibility that he was the reincarnation of a long-dead prince from an alien kingdom that existed on the Earth's moon. Looks like his life is about to become more interesting.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: the Return of Some Old Allies**

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**Warning: This story is will contain graphic violence, foul language, nudity, torture, and possible sex scenes. **

**So Reader's discretion is advised.**

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Setsuna Meiou, or as she generally preferred to be called Sailor Pluto, let out a sigh of boredom as she walked past the time gateway that led to the timeline that Queen Serenity had tasked her of guarding with her life. The last Queen of the old Moon Kingdom knew that she was condemning Pluto to an eternity of solitude in order to ensure that the Moon Kingdom would be resurrected in the thirtieth century as Crystal Tokyo. However, both Sailor Pluto and Queen Serenity knew there would be a heavy price for interfering in the timeline to further the queen's goals. Sadly, the only people that would be paying the steep price for their interference would be the vast majority of the human population of Earth.

When she had began her guardianship over the sealed time gates that would prevent the creation of the new Moon Kingdom, she had been thrilled that she would be helping to reestablish the kingdom as she had been one of the three Sailor Senshi that had summoned to Sailor Saturn to destroy the remains of the Old Moon Kingdom. But as the millennia passed by her and she watched humanity grow and prosper again without the constant meddling of the Moon Kingdom, she began to wonder if they were doing the right thing. At first, she repeatedly told herself that what she was doing was for the greater good of humanity as a whole and mentally justified the Queen's actions by pointing out the various wars that the humanity had waged amongst itself. But over time, she remembered what Queen Serenity's son had said about the responsibility that all members of royalty had to their subjects.

"_Royalty must be the ones that look after their people at all times as it is our moral and civic obligation as their leaders to be the guardians of their collective interests."_ Sailor Pluto mentally recalled what the Prince had said as she sadly looked at the gateway that led to a future where humanity united under one democratic banner to usher in a golden age of peace and prosperity for them.

She knew that such a future was something that the Prince had long dreamed about and tried to make into a reality on numerous occasions. Pluto also knew that the Prince would be bitterly opposed to what his mother had done on both moral and ethical grounds. Those two reasons were probably why the Queen had decided against sending her son's soul to the future to be reincarnated as he would actively try to prevent the Moon Kingdom's resurrection. That of course was a sad shame as the Prince had the gift of foresight and had been known as "The One Who Sees All" by both the people of the Earth Kingdom and the Moon Kingdom.

"_My beloved prince, I wonder what you would do if you were in my position?"_ Setsuna thought to herself as she continued to look at gateway with a look of sadness in her eyes and in her heart.

It had been no secret amongst the original Sailor Scouts that she had a romantic infatuation with the prince when he had been alive. It was hard for her not to be attracted to him as he tended to treated her as his equal and not as some expendable subordinate that could be sacrificed when it was convenient for him to do so. Sadly for her, the prince had decided that he wanted to court Sailor Jupiter in the hopes that she would be his future wife. To add further to her heartbreak, Lita had openly agreed to marry him as the two loved each other dearly.

While Sailor Pluto was happy for the prince being able to find someone that could return his unconditional love, it still pained her for not being chosen to be his wife. She had always dreamed of finding herself a man that could see past her tough exterior and recognize her for the woman that she was. So when he decided to court Lita, it had been a major blow to her to heart. She had known that the two of them could never be together as their duties required them to stay away from each other. However, Setsuna secretly wanted to have at least one child with him to prove that they had something special at one point.

It was at this moment that something happened that made Pluto easily recognize that it was an omen of things that where to come. A pair of black-feathered Ravens appeared out of nowhere and flew over her head and landed on the Gateway that led to Crystal Tokyo. She quickly noticed that while the two birds shared the same colored feathering, their eyes were two different colors. The raven sitting on the top left half of the gateway had ruby-red eyes, while the one that was sitting on the right had solid sapphire blue-eyes. However, what unnerved her a great deal was the fact the two black birds' eyes were filled with an unusually high amount of intelligence that seemed unnatural for animals like them.

"It's been awhile hasn't it, Puu?" The raven that had ruby-red-eyes suddenly spoke in the ancient language of the Moon Kingdom.

Setsuna blinked in surprise at the fact that one of the Ravens had spoken in her ancient native tongue and addressed her by her original name. The fact that the dark-feathered bird sounded eerily familiar to her was also weighing heavily on her mind. Its voice reminded her of one of the advisors that the Prince often kept close at hand in the unlikely event that he needed help in shaping his policies.

"Cut her some slack,Huginn. After all, the last time we saw her was almost seventeen years before the last ice age." The raven with sapphire-blue-eyes commented in a somewhat scolding manner like a mother would when their child did something wrong for the very first time.

At the mentioning of the name Huginn, Setsuna shook her head in disbelief. There was no possible way for the two birds being the rather infamous advisors of the prince as they hadn't been seen since before the start of the last ice age. However, the raven that was being called Huginn had addressed her in the official language of the Moon Kingdom and its vassal states. There was only one way for her to be sure that these two actually were the two beings that she was thinking of.

"If you two really are the advisers Huginn and Muninn of old then tell me something that only they would know." She demanded as she lifted her Garnet orb staff in a menacing manner to drive home the point that she was trying to make to the two possible imposters.

Either they told her something about the past that only a select few would know about, or she would strike them down for being imposters.

"I seem to remember an incident where the prince and I walking into his room to find you and Princess Lita making out on the prince's bed. I also distinctly remember that the two of you were as naked as the day as you were born." The raven with the blue-eyes commented within a few seconds of Setsuna made her nonverbal threat.

At the mentioning of the most embarrassing moment in her incredibly long life, Sailor Pluto cheeks turned a rosy-red color as she recalled the incident that the Raven had brought up. Both she and Sailor Jupiter had gotten into a drinking contest with each other during Princess Serenity's sixteenth birthday. After a couple of hours of drinking, the two of them stumbled off into the palace to go find the prince and pronounce their undying love for him. Everything else was pretty much a blur to her as she didn't wake up until the next following day around mid-afternoon with a massive hangover and her arms wrapped tightly around Princess Lita's waist. The two of them had made a pact to never tell anybody about what had transpired between them the previous night.

"Okay, your really are Muninn." Setsuna spoke as she remembered the large amount of teasing that she had to endure at the hands of the extremely wise bird after that day.

She turned her head to the raven that was identified as Huginn, who had remained absolutely silent and still since first speaking. For a few seconds, they waited for the red-eyed bird to say something as she still needed to prove that she was the real Huginn.

"Huginn, aren't you going to say anything?" Muninn asked with worry evident in his voice for his fellow advisor and lifelong mate.

He was quickly greeted by the sight of his partner falling to the ground with blood coming out of her nostril holes in her beak and her eyes being swirls. At the sight of his mate passed out on the ground, Muninn covered the front of his head with his right wing out of embarrassment. Why in the names of the honorable ancestors did the ancient ones have to make his mate into be such a pervert?

"She's Huginn, alright." Pluto simply stated as she remembered all the times that the female Raven passed out from blood loss after hearing something perverted.

It was nothing sort of a miracle that Huginn hadn't died from the blood loss from the amount of times that she gotten the bird's equivalent of a bloody nose. Despite the female raven's perverseness it was still nice to see her once more as Pluto hadn't been able to talk to anybody without knowing that she would eventually outlive them. She truly envied humanity's short life spans as they didn't have to watch their friends grow old and die, while they remained young for many more millennia.

"So what's so important that it forced the two of you to come out of hiding?" Pluto asked in a manner that sounded harsher than it tended to be.

Muninn let out a sigh as he knew that he was about to drop an absolute bombshell on Sailor Pluto. However, this needed to be done as it was the only way that they were going to secure her help in preventing the dark one from returning to their realm.

"We need your help in finding the prince." He spoke as he placed most of his proverbial cards on the table.

He hoped that Pluto's love for the prince would be enough to overrule any sense of duty that she had to Queen Serenity. Normally, he would have gone straight to Luna and ask her for help in trying to find the last prince of the moon kingdom. However, Muninn had a terrible gut feeling that the queen had placed a powerful geas on the cat to ensure that only the princess would be her main focus.

"As much as I want to help you find the prince, I swore an oath to the queen that I'll guard the time gateways to ensure that Crystal Tokyo is realized." Pluto commented apologetically as she truly wanted to help them find the prince.

However, her loyalty to the duty that her Queen had given her took precedence over almost everything else. The only way for her to able to even temporarily abandon her post was if there was a threat that was big enough to warrant her involvement. Unfortunately for the dead queen's plans, the possibility of the Dark One returning more than warranted Pluto's direct intervention.

"Well, there won't be a Crystal Tokyo if the order of Aurelius is allowed to resurrect the Dark One. We both know that the prince is the only person that's even remotely capable of defeating the Dark One and live to tell the tale." Muninn spoke in a grave manner that told just how serious the situation really was.

At the mentioning of the Dark One, Setsuna narrowed her eyes in anger and frustration. She was angry that someone was dumb enough to think that they could actually control the Dark One, when it took the combine might of all of the kingdoms in the Solar System to seal the foul beast away. At the same time, she was frustrated with her deceased Queen for being foolish enough to believe that the seals would hold the demonic beast at bay for all eternity. Then again, she shouldn't really be surprised that the Queen would always ignore the Prince's warnings in favor of listening to Princess Serenity.

"We also have to be worried about the First Evil's recent stirrings and interests in the various dark nexuses points across the earth." Muninn commented as he recalled the feelings that one of his fellow surviving advisors had when they sensed the dark actions of the non-corporeal entity.

Sailor Pluto turned as white as a bed sheet at hearing that the First Evil had started to become active once more. It was bad enough that somebody was trying to resurrect the Dark One, but to hear that evil incarnate was stirring as well. That was something that she couldn't ignore, regardless of the situation.

"Very well, Muninn. I will help you locate the prince in exchange for a favor at a later date." Setsuna ominously spoke in a way that sent shivers up the raven's spine.

The raven briefly contemplated Pluto's offer of help. He had a hunch about the favor that she wanted in the future, and knew that the prince didn't like it when somebody made an agreement behind his back that involved him in some way. However, the situation had forced Muninn into a corner that left him with no other options to take.

"Very well, Puu. I agree to your terms." The Raven conceded knowing that the prince will make him suffer for agreeing with the deal.

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**Meanwhile in the Dark Kingdom**

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Queen Beryl sat in Obsidian throne with her eyes closed as she contemplated her next move to gather human energy. So far, every attempt that she and her generals had made to gather the needed energy had been foiled by those accursed Sailor Scouts that seemed to be coming out of the woodworks to fight her and her generals. To make matters worse for the Dark Kingdom, Gaining any type of foothold in North America had proven to be nearly impossible for them. The law firm known as Wolfram & Hart had proven to be a challenging opponent as her sub-officers had proven that they were incapable of being a real threat to the law firm's power and authority. Then there was that damn Sorcerer that was controlling the nearby dark nexus point with an iron fist, if she could only make some sort of deal with the man that would allow her access to even a small portion of the Nexus' power. She would be able to super charge several of her youma and have them easily deal with the Sailor Scouts once-and-for-all.

"_That sorcerer that calls himself Mayor Wilkins is starting to prove more trouble than he is actually worth. The fool honestly believes that he has the power to poses a serious threat to me."_ Beryl thought to herself in a somewhat bemused manner as she continued to ponder about gathering human energy for her superior.

True, the dark sorcerer had a particularly powerful dark nexus under his control and had showed her that he was more than willing to use it if given the proper incentive to do so. Fortunately for her, the century old sorcerer only had a small group of dedicated followers at his disposal due to his secretive and manipulative rule over the town that was build over the nexus point. She knew that if he was exposed for what he truly was, then he would be overwhelmed by the town's citizens before he could do anything to secure his authority over them. So if he continued to be problem for her, she could simply have him exposed and let human hatred and paranoia of the unknown take its natural course.

However, there was another problem in North America that was far more concerning to her than a demonic law firm or a dark sorcerer with an over-inflated ego. Recently, her spies on the continent had reported that a group of black-robed individuals had begun rallying the broken remnants of a vampire cult by the name of the Order of Aurelius to their cause. This was concerning as the Order of Aurelius was known for worshiping ancient pure-blooded demons called Old-Ones. The fact that most members of the recovering cult were being relocated onto several dark nexus points that were scattered across the country known as the United States of America was also something for her to be concerned about.

She wasn't arrogant enough to believe that mere mortals wouldn't pose a threat to her forces, when time came for her to conquer the earth. In fact, she considered United States of America along with the People's Republic of China the greatest threats to her as they both had the military capability and the resources to challenge her. Hence why, she sent hundreds of Youma to the two countries to gather any reliable intelligence that could be used against the two powers. But that quickly changed when her agents in America notified her about the incredible large population of demons and vampires living within the nation of stars and stripes.

"My lady, one of your agents from the dark agency has reported something in that requires your attention." Somebody spoke from in front of her.

Beryl opened her eyes to see who had dared break her concentration and make them pay for doing so, only for her to discover that it was Zoisite that had disturbed her. As the woman that was standing in front of her was a member of the Shitennou, so certain transgressions had to be overlooked.

"This better be important, Zoisite. Otherwise, there will be dire consequences that you will pay for disturbing me." Beryl warned in a menacing manner as she glared at her general.

Zoisite let out an audible gulp of fear as she remembered what had happened to her fellow Shitennou for displeasing their queen.

"My lady, our spy operating in the town known as Sunnydale, California has reported in about an individual whose magical signature identifies theme as a member of the Moon Kingdom. They're inquiring about what they should do with the individual." The Shitennou commented as she mentally prepared for the tongue lashing that she was going to get from her Dark Queen.

At the mentioning of a member of the destroyed Moon Kingdom being active on a dark nexus point, Beryl summoned her crystal ball to investigate her spy's suspicious claim. She did find it odd that a member of the Moon Kingdom had been reincarnated on a dark nexus point of all places as they tended to screw with their magical abilities and cause unintended effects for the magic user.

"Did our spy give us any details about what this individual looks like, Zoisite." The ruler of the Dark Kingdom spoke in a somewhat annoyed manner as her spies often failed to describe things in great detail or avoid describing them at all.

Zoisite let out a brief sigh of relief upon being asked by Beryl for any features that would help her find the person with her crystal ball. She didn't want to end up like Jadeite, who had been given the punishment of eternal sleep for his constant failures. Not knowing the exact details of what the spy had reported from the town, she pulled out a small black notebook and opened it to the page that contained the information that the Queen desired.

"The agent has reported that the target is a white Caucasian male with dark brown hair that has been cut into a crew cut hairstyle. He also has dark brown eyes that seemed to contain a hidden intelligence behind his façade as a class clown. Also the target is roughly around six foot and two inches tall with a slight athletic build that is developing into a more muscular form as time progresses. In terms of personality, our spy has noted that the individual is charismatic enough to get people's attention and he is a strongly dependable person to have on your side." The female Shitennou commented as she read the information off.

With the desired information in her mind, Beryl quickly began searching the small Californian town for the person that caught the eye of her spy. After a few minutes of searching, she found the person in the middle of a graveyard fighting against a vampire with nothing more than a cross and a wooden stake. The dark queen watched in fascination as this dormant member of the moon kingdom fought a demonic creature with nothing more than a few cheap trinkets and his own cunning backing him up. Beryl couldn't help to admire the young man's tenacity to continuing the fight, regardless of the fact that he was severely outclassed at the moment by something that could easily kill him.

Even at a sideways glance, she could tell that the human was an extremely determined individual that was willing to fight against a stronger opponent because nobody else was willing or able to do so. In fact, she could tell that he was on the verge of becoming an independent warrior if given the proper motivation and training to become one. That in itself was a major problem for her as it meant another possible threat for her to deal with in the near future.

"_Perhaps, if I gain his trust and confidence then he could become a reliable ally in North America."_ Beryl thought to herself as she watched the young man through the crystal ball as he killed the vampire by driving the stake in the foul creature's heart.

It was at this moment that the young man looked up into the sky and unknowingly looked directly at the Dark Queen that was responsible for the destruction of the Kingdom of Earth and the Moon Kingdom. The Queen took a sharp intake of air that alarmed Zoisite, who was still in the room. The only female member of the Shitennou rushed over to the throne to see what was wrong with her leader, only to discover why her queen reacted in the way she did. The person that the Dark Agency spy identified as a reincarnated citizen of the Moon Kingdom looked exactly like the first and only prince of the Moon Kingdom.

"Zoisite, did our spy possible include the name of this young man?" Beryl asked in a somewhat frightened tone as her mind flashed with images of the multiple battles that she had been forced to wage before finally destroying the Moon Kingdom because of the prince.

Zoisite quickly pulled out her notebook and began skimming through it in the hopes of finding the name of the carbon copy of the prince. She knew that if the Prince's soul had been sent to the future to be reincarnated like the Sailor Scouts then the Dark Kingdom was facing an extremely dire situation. Before he died in battle, the Prince had proven himself to be an extremely gifted tactician and a competent strategist that combined his situational awareness with his ability to perfectly assess the enemy's forces and his own forces capabilities to make him a truly dangerous foe. The only time that his ability to assess the enemy failed him, it directly led to his tragic death.

"His name is Alexander Lavelle Harris, age seventeen." Zoisite spoke as she discovered the page that contained the information that would forever change the course of history.

At hearing the young man's name, Beryl knew that she had to tell her superior Queen Metaria about this development as it was significant enough to warrant her attention. As she got up out of her throne, she gave the young man in her crystal globe a final look. He still had the same roughed-handsomeness and primal magnetism that had made him easily the most desired male in the solar system with only Prince Endymion being his real competition. As the dark Queen walked past the globe to go inform her superior about this development in America, she could've sworn that she saw a Cheshire crescent moon in the middle of his forehead.

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**Okay, here is the first chapter of the rewritten Prince of the Moon Kingdom. Like the first one, it's a Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Sailor Moon crossover with influences from the Ninja Gaiden and the Mortal Kombat franchises. I might also put in somethings from other franchises such as the**** DC comics. Please don't expect characters such as Ryu Hayabusa to appear in the story as I won't put them in.****I also want to make this perfectly clear with you guys, I will have several original characters in my story for the sake balancing it out. For example,** **Huginn and Muninn are advisors that I specifically created for Xander. Another example is the dark one that is mentioned in this chapter.**

**This story has a Xander and Makoto Kino/Lita/Sailor Jupiter pairing as the main pairing and characters. Now the reason why I decided to rewrite the entire story was because I didn't give Xander enough connections to the moon kingdom for it to be actually feasible for him to be a member of the royal family. I also noticed that I didn't have enough magical plots in the story as I originally had Xander to be a more scientifically mind person. He was going to be like Tony Stark/ Iron Man from the Marvel comics, hence the rewrite.**

**So if you guys have any thoughts or questions about the story, please leave a review. So with that being said, Hoorah to Ashes!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Rebirth of the Lord of Shadows**

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Most of the infamous Scooby gang was sitting around the central tables within the Sunnydale High School's library as they discussed about a major problem. Out of the five members of the group, only two members weren't there for various reasons. The first was Daniel "Oz" Osborne, who was busy talking to a member of his band about a gig that had at the Bronze that evening. While the second was Alexander "Xander" Harris, who was currently serving a lunch detention for back talking to Principle Snyder. The remaining members were discussing about Xander's future role within the group. It had been nearly three days since the swim team incident that nearly saw him turned into a living version of the creature from the Black Lagoon.

"I don't know about this idea, Buffy. Who knows how Xander will react if he was pushed completely out of all slaying activities." Giles commented with some concern as he cleaned his glasses with lapel of his jacket.

To the British man, the younger man tended to remind him of an ancient warrior from the classical era that was fighting for a purpose that was far greater than him. In many ways, it worried the watcher as untapped potential could be turned against them if provoked. He knew that the Council tended to forget something extremely important when it came to mundane people, they could be a lot more dangerous if given reason to be.

"But he just gets in the way, Giles!" Buffy whined as she wanted to get Giles to support her.

She had an ulterior motive for wanting to expel Xander from the group and all of them were self-serving. He was constantly the only person in group had always been the one that had questioned her decisions or make unwanted comments about her relationship with Angel. After she had unintentionally helped Angel loss his soul, those comments occurred more often and were becoming increasingly harsher.

"Besides, he always gets hurt during patrols. He doesn't have any powers and it's not like he can actually fight." Buffy argued in an attempt to convince Giles that she was right.

Willow nodded her head in agreement as she saw that Xander was becoming more of liability than anything else. Besides after Jesse's death, Xander had started getting into more fights with people at school and was more willing to defy people in positions of authority. This was a big no-no in her book and opinion as those people needed to be obeyed, regardless of the fact that some of them were trolls disguised as humans.

"Buffy is right, Giles. Xander is practically useless in a fight and will only get himself killed. It's better for us and safer for him, if we kick him out of the group." Willow commented as she didn't care that she was betraying her longest living friend.

Giles sighed as he put his glasses back on, he knew that the girls had made up their minds about this and he couldn't dissuade them from their course of action. He could only hope that Xander would at least understand their decision to remove him from the group. If not, then he hoped that the young man doesn't do anything drastic. It is as the monk known as Bernard of Clairvaux so eloquently put it eight hundred and forty-five years ago,the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

It was at this moment that Cordelia Chase walked into the library with an annoyed expression on her face. She had just left her flock of followers to get a moment of peace and quiet after dealing with another of Harmony Kendall's numerous attempts to overthrow her position as Queen of Sunnydale High. So she headed to the one place that she knew that nobody would ever bother to search. Both Buffy and Willow sighed as soon as they saw the Queen Bee.

"Hello Cordelia." The two girls spoke in perfect unison with much distain in their voices.

Cordelia paid the two jealous girls no mind as she had bigger things to deal with at the moment. Of course, her idea of dealing with her problems was getting Xander to smuggle her off the school's campus for the rest of the lunch period and possibly the rest of the school day.

"Where's Xander?!" Cordelia demanded as she looked around the library for the person in question.

Willow had to resist the urge to vomit as she knew that Xander had feelings for the popular girl and the cheerleader shared the same feelings. This infuriated the red-headed Jewish girl to no end as she had known Xander since kindergarten. The fact that nothing she did to keep the two apart from each other, only drove her to become angrier with Xander.

"He's currently serving a detention with Snyder for calling the man a miserable little troll." Buffy commented like it wasn't a big deal.

Cordelia swore under her breath at the news that the only person that could get her off campus with no questions asked was currently in detention. Then again, she had noted that Xander had begun to show more courage and bravery then he did before Buffy had showed up. She was also very well-aware that he had been going out on sole patrols and been achieving a level of success that she didn't think was possible for a normal person like him.

"We're using this moment of quiet to convince Giles to support our decision to remove Xander from the group." Buffy stated like her betrayal was something to proud of.

Cordelia suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the fact that Xander's friends were planning on betraying him, because he was the normal one in the group. Perhaps, if she told them about Xander's successes on his sole patrols then they'll allow him to stay.

"I think you guys are underestimating the skills that Xander brings to your group. I mean during his sole patrols, he usually takes down four or five vampires on his own." Cordelia slowly explained to the majority of the Scooby gang.

At the mentioning that Xander had been going off on patrols on his own, the room went dead silent. The idea that the only normal member of the group had been doing better than the slayer was simply unthinkable and. In their previous perception of the world, Buffy was considered the best vampire killer in Sunnydale as she took down two or three vampires on a single patrol. So for them to hear that Xander was taking down twice as many vampires as Buffy was, it was completely incomprehensible to them.

"WHAT!" Buffy and Willow screamed out in anger and surprise that not only was Xander going out on patrols by himself, but he was doing better than them.

To Buffy, the very idea that a mere human disobeying her orders about going out on patrols alone was outrageous. But to also learn that they managed to upstage her as the Hellmouth's premier Vampire killer was a major blow to her pride as a Slayer. For Willow, the idea that her childhood friend had willfully defied the leading authority on demon killing was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Both of them were in a mental agreement with each other, that Xander had to go.

"I told him not to go out on patrols alone! This just proves that Xander isn't mentally fit to apart of our group anymore!" Buffy yelled in absolute fury in her voice.

Giles simply pinched his nose in irritation as he knew that Xander's rebellious action had sealed the girl's opinion on the situation. It was truly a shame that it had come to this as the Californian-native would have made an excellent watcher if given the proper training. Not that he would ever recommend the young American for further training in handling of the Supernatural. He also suspected that the Council wouldn't accept any sort of colonial riffraff into their ranks, regardless of the skill that they had. It was an unofficial requirement that you have to be a British citizen or at the very least a citizen of a nation that was a member of the British Commonwealth to be accepted into the Organization.

"This isn't going to end well with Xander, Buffy. He's not going to simply accept your decision so easily." Giles warned as the school bell rang marking the end of the student's lunch period.

Cordelia had to agree with Giles on this argument as Xander could be more stubborn than a mule when he wanted to be. It was one of his many traits that made him attractive to more than a couple of the girls at school. In fact, the only reason why he wasn't one of the popular kids was his taste in clothing and his poor choice in friends.

"Well, He's just going to accept the fact that I'm the Slayer and my word is law." Buffy stubbornly commented as she picked up her backpack and stormed off to her sixth-period class.

* * *

**IN AN UNKNOWN REALM**

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An unknown figure in metallic black samurai armor sat on a large obsidian throne that rested in a poor-lighted room that was heavily inspired by traditional Japanese architecture. The room was filled with both strange looking creatures that could only be described as demonic and by humanoid warriors that were wearing black samurai armor. However, the most astonishing sight was the unknown figure as it was easily taller than a three-story-building and was twenty-five yards wide. While most of the figure's upper body was covered in shadows, its glowing blood-red eyes were clearly visible for everybody in the room to see.

"**As many of you have known that, my former second-in-command launched a second failed invasion of the human realm nearly eight-years-ago." **The figure started to speak in a voice that echoed slightly and sounded completely demonic to the human ear.

Many of the humanoid warriors began chuckling to themselves as they remembered hearing the news that the supposed almighty Talpa had been taken down by a group of human teenagers. They would have broken out into uncontrollable laughter, if it weren't for the fact that the dark warlord of the Dynasty realm had disgraced their leader with his actions. The fool was lucky that he was dead as all of the warriors in the room would be more than happy to kill him for such embarrassment.

The figure simply raised his left hand causing the chuckling to instantly stop as he the absolute ruler of the realm that they were in. If the figure wanted to do so, he could order his army of warriors to fight to the death with itself.

"**However, his failure has revealed some vital information that is of great interest to me and my plans for the earth realm."** The figure spoke as he recalled the intelligence that his spies within the realm of man had told him involving several key figures from the fallen Moon Kingdom.

At the mentioning of the Kingdom that was responsible for their banishment to their current home, every warrior and demon in the room began to loudly hiss or boo. The figure raised his hand again and the room went silent once more.

"**My servants within the realm have told me that the prince of the Moon Kingdom has been reincarnated as a weak and pathetic human. We know that the seal that is keeping us locked away in this accursed realm requires his blood to weaken it. Therefore, I require a demon to go the town known as Sunnydale to killed the reincarnated prince and bring me his head."** The figure spoke as its eyes began to glow even brighter than before.

The warriors on the left side of the room began to grumble at the fact that a black-scaled demon was being given the honor of killing the person responsible for their imprisonment. It was at this moment that a demon stepped forward and let out a shrieking roar. The room went dead quiet at the sight of the demon as it belonged to a particularly rare species of demons that were known for hunting in small packs. They were also known for cannibalizing their young and elderly when the times were particularly lean.

The demon itself was about one-point-eight meters tall and from had a length of four-meters from the tip of its snout to the tip of its tail. The creature's four fingered hands were tipped with razor-sharp claws. Its three-toed feet were also tipped with talons that could easily cut through steel, a really interesting feature was the retractable claw attached to the middle toe. The creature's maw was filled with over two dozen dagger-shaped teeth that could cut through flesh and bone with little difficulty. The creature's slitted eyes were extremely reminiscent of that of a crocodile's eyes and showed an unusually high-level of intelligence.

"**A void demon wishes to hunt down the being that doomed it's species to extinction? I believe that you'll stop at nothing to get revenge for the wrong that the Moon Kingdom committed against us all. Very well, I shall allow you to have the honor."** The figure spoke with a bit of finality in his voice that left no room for argument from his subordinates.

With everything said and done, the figure waved its right-hand and teleported the creature out of the realm before weakly lowering their hand back down onto throne's armrest. While the figure was extremely powerful in terms of the dark arts, they were no match against the divine magic that powered the seal that kept them and their forces imprisoned. So the figure could only send one of its minions into the human world at any given time as breaching the seal was a major strain on their powers, and that's even with the secretive help of the Powers That Be.

"_**Soon, the realm of man shall belong to me and I will have my revenge against the last offspring of the void dragons."**_ The figure thought to themselves before their glowing eyes dimmed down to the point that many would believe it to be dead.

* * *

**WITH XANDER**

* * *

Xander stormed out of the Sunnydale High School's library with a look of absolute fury as he headed towards his parents' home. The reason why he was so pissed off was due to his supposed friends' decision to remove him from the group due to his status of being a regular human. Even Oz and Giles, the two people that he believed would back him up had agreed with Buffy and Willow's decision. So in his anger, he told Buffy that she was nothing more a dirty slut and a traitor to mankind before punching her straight in the face. The Californian demon hunter took grim satisfaction in the fact that he might have broken the slayer's nose with that single punch.

"_I can't believe that Willow would betray me so easily after thirteen years of friendship. This proves that she has changed for the worse ever since Jesse had been turned into a vampire and was accidentally staked."_ Xander thought to himself as he recalled how Willow use to act before Buffy showed into town.

At the thought of his brother-in-all-but-in-blood, Xander felt a sudden surge of sadness and regret rush into his heart like a massive tidal wave. It had been him that had delivered the blow to his best friend's heart and he still had occasional nightmares about the incident. He suspected that he would have them more often if it weren't for the entire Hyena spirit and the swim team episodes. The memories that he inherited on Halloween night from the Vietnam-era Navy Seal that possessed his body certainly didn't help him either. In fact, he would be a lot more concerned if he had a perfect night's sleep than having a reoccurring nightmare.

"If I'm completely honest with myself, I suspect that I have a small case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Xander muttered to himself as he walked into an alleyway that led almost directly to the street that his parents' house resided on.

He was well-aware of the various signs that indicated that somebody had PTSD as he had read about it in a medical journal that he had founded in the public library. He had several symptoms that were considered signs for the disorder such as estrangement from others, intense psychological distress when exposed to reminders of the events, flashbacks, and the nightly nightmares. What made things worse for him was the fact that he couldn't tell anybody about him having the disorder as it would lead to some very awkward questions that he wouldn't be able to explain. So he was forced to deal with his traumatic memories by himself without any help from the proper authorities.

"God, I wish there was something that could take my mind off of everything." Xander mused to himself without realizing that he had tempted the entity known as Murphy into action.

As he walked further into the alleyway, he quickly noticed that it was taking longer for him to reach the other end than normal. The novice in magical knowledge quickly surmised that somebody or something had cast a spell that prevented him from reaching the other side of the alley. He turned around in order to go back the way he came. Only to find that the other end of the alley looked like it was miles away from his current position. Without any hesitation, he reached into the inner portion of his jacket and pulled out a combat knife that his uncle had left at his parent's house before he left for Japan.

The blade was roughly around twelve inches long with the blade taking up seven inches of that length. The base of the clip-pointed blade was serrated to allow more tearing and cutting of the flesh when the blade was withdrawn from the body. The handle of the knife was made out of a Kraton polymer for a better grip, instead of the usual stacked leather-washers handle that the legendary combat blade was known for. Overall, the weapon weighted around five-hundred and sixty grams thus making the light-weight knife absolutely perfect for close-quarters-combat. And being extremely skilled in CQC was something that Xander took a great amount of pride in.

"Alright, who or whatever you are. You can show yourself as I know you're nearby." Xander loudly commented as he gotten into a Jūdō stance with the knife being held in a reverse grip.

He was greeted by the sight of a giant two legged reptilian-like creature stepping out of the shadows that covered the left wall of the alleyway. For some unexplainable reason, the Californian teen felt his blood beginning to boil in anger at the sight of what he presumed to be an unknown type of demon. In his opinion, the creature kinda of looked like an overgrown turkey with scales and a tail. More importantly, the creature had a very blood-thirsty look in its eyes. Xander was quickly able to realize that the demon had already set its sights on making him its dinner.

"Come on, you ugly son of a bitch! If you want to eat me so badly, then you're going to have to earn the right to do so." Xander spoke as he leveled a heated glare at the creature as his grip on the knife's handle tightened in anticipation of the ensuing fight.

Without needing anymore prompting, the creature let out an inhuman shriek before charging head first at its human prey. Only for Xander to move out of the way at the very last second and dodge the attack for the most part.

"Ahhhhhh!" Xander loudly scream out in pain as he dropped his knife, which was his only means of defense.

The creature had made a downwards slash as it ran past him and managed to make a gash that ran vertically over his right eye. Xander instantly grabbed his face after wicked receiving such a vicious attack to the face by the creature. Normally, he would simply ignore the pain as he had since been familiar with the feeling due to the constant abuse at the hands of his father. However, the pain that he was currently feeling was something completely different as it seemed that it burned his very soul.

The creature quickly turned around and charged once more at the injured teenager, who was busy clenching his face in pain to really notice what was going on around him. So unlike the first unsuccessful charge, the second one was dead on the money. So the injured Californian teenager was knocked to the concrete ground and given a massive headache as punishment for not paying attention to his surroundings.

Despite being in obscene amount of pain that he was in and having his blood blurring his vision in right eye, Xander managed to open both of his eyes to find that the demon was standing over him. He could only glare defiantly as the creature lowered its head with the mouth full of teeth wide open. As the creature's razor sharp maw steadily came closer to his face, the amateur demon-hunter simply closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

"_I guess this is the end for me? Who would've thought that I would be killed by a demon in a dark alleyway alone and unwanted? I'll be seeing you soon, Jesse."_ Xander thought to himself as he waited for the demon to kill him.

Fortunately for the defeated teen, it seemed like fate had other things in store for him at the moment. If he had been paying attention to what was happening around him, he would notice that the world had suddenly turned a dark grey and that time seemed to have slow down to a snail's pace as the color left the world. Even the creature had slowed down to the point that it looked like it was barely moving.

"_So this is how a modern-day warrior meets his end in battle? He's lying down on the ground with his eyes closed and waiting for his death. It's absolutely pathetic."_ A voice suddenly spoke.

* * *

**INSIDE XANDER'S MIND**

* * *

Xander's eyes snapped wide-open to find himself no longer in the dark alleyway with the creature that was about to land the coup de grâce on him. Instead, he found himself in a small grass meadow that was surrounded by an infinite number of bamboo trees.

"I guess I'm no longer in Kansas anymore." He dryly commented as he got to his feet and dusted himself off.

Over his head, a loud crack of thunder boomed as if to confirm his earlier statement about him not being in the state of Kansas. Apparently, his own mind couldn't pick up the movie reference that he had made or the large amount of sarcasm that was in his voice earlier.

"I recommend that you stop using that dreadful sense of humor of yours while you're inside of my domain." A somewhat gruff male voice commented from behind Xander, which caused the teen to nearly jump into the air from fright.

Xander instantly turned around and threw a wild punch with his right hand at the person who had managed to sneak up on him without being able detected. So imagine the teenager's surprise when the stranger not only caught his punch, but used his momentum against him. He quickly found himself lying face-down on the ground and in the dirt with his right arm twisted behind his back.

"Now, now, it isn't very nice to attack somebody that's about to offer you their services." The voice commented as he tightened his grip around Xander's wrist causing the young demon hunter to wince in pain.

Xander turned his head sideways in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the man who had managed to pin him down in a single move. So far, the only thing that he could see was that the man was wearing a strange set of black pajama and slippers. He didn't know what was more humiliating and hurtful to his pride, the fact that he'd been beaten in the one field that he believed himself to be untouchable in or that he'd been defeated so easily by someone who was wearing pajamas. Needless to say, the teenaged demon-hunter wasn't exactly in the happiest of moods at the moment.

"Oh yeah, and why in god's name should I trust a pajama wearing freak like you?" He rudely demanded as he didn't trust anybody that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and make certain claims about helping him.

The entire situation with Angelus had shattered any naïve illusions that he might have still had about trusting people that appeared out of nowhere and claiming that they were there to help him. However, the mysterious man suddenly yanked his arm upwards to cause enough pain to cause him to grunt out in discomfort.

"Listen and listen well, kid. The only reason why I'm even bothering to offer you my help is because our souls are interconnected. If anything happens to you then the same thing will happen to me, so if you die then I will also die as well. And unlike you, I very much like to continue on living even if I'm already a spirit." The man spoke as he let go of Xander's arm and backed a few feet away to allow the teen the chance to get off of the ground.

Xander quickly hopped onto to his feet and spun around to get a better look of the person that managed to defeat him. Only to discover to his internal horror, that the man wasn't dressed in a fancy set of foot pajamas like he had originally believed. Instead, the man was actually wearing a black shinobi shōzoku that indicated what he truly was. Xander instantly realized the terrible mistake that he had made by attacking a bloody ninja of all things. The feudal ninja had been medieval Japan's equivalent to a modern-day Special Forces unit in terms of sheer skill and combat ability.

During the fiasco with the Order of Taraka, Buffy had mistakenly called the three assassins that were after her a group of ninjas. She had been quickly corrected by Giles on the vast differences between the Order of Taraka and the defunct ninja clans. Apparently, the stories of the various ninja clans of Japan having supernatural powers had been true and the Watcher's Council had them eradicated out of spite and jealously. From what he had managed to gather in his own independent research, many of the ninja clans either bred with mystical or demonic creatures to gain magical powers that were without equal. Many of these clans were highly-skilled demon hunters that the local daimyō would hire to take care of any demons that threatened their domains. This of course brought them into conflict with the Watcher's Council, who felt threatened by the ninja clans' successfulness and had them wiped out to protect the organization's illicit monopoly.

It truly sickened him to learn that the supposed guardians of humanity had wiped out their competition for the sake of profit and greed. In many ways, he was grateful to Buffy and Willow for kicking out of a group that was connected to such a corrupt organization. However, the man's assistance would come at a cost as that was how both the human world and the supernatural world worked.

"Let's say that I do accept your help, what do you want in return for your assistance?" Xander asked as he knew that you couldn't gain something for free when it came to the supernatural.

He noticed that the mask that covered the man's creased indicating that the stranger was smiling underneath his mask. It was clear that the man was pleased by the fact that he actually aware of the law of equivalent exchange. That it was the universe broken down to its most basic principle, which was something that nobody ever really understood until it was too late.

"I'm pleased to know that you understand the most basic law of the universe, child. So I'll get straight to the point and tell you what I want from you. The moment that I awaken the untrained powers that have long been dormant within you, you shall instantly become a threat to everyone around you." The figure spoke with a tone that conveyed the seriousness of the situation.

Whatever snippy comment that Xander had on the tip of his tongue disappeared like a bolt of lightning at hearing that he would automatically become a major threat to everybody that he still cared for, due to the awakening of some stupid hidden power that he didn't know that he had in him until just now. Despite this extremely disturbing revelation, he was still sound enough in mind to piece together what the figure wanted from him.

"You want to train me in controlling these powers that I have within me before I can accidentally harm someone." He guessed as he could almost sense the man's desire to pass on his teachings.

The unknown man nodded his head in confirmation at Xander's correct assumption about him wanting to teach the seventeen-year-old how to properly control his powers. The man was well-aware that Queen Serenity had bound the teen's magical powers in the hopes that the buildup would eventually kill him. However, the Queen failed to take into account that the man would have taken numerous steps to prevent something like that from occurring.

"Yes, every night I will bring your spirit to my domain to be trained in the mystical arts of the shadow warrior. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be more feared than the slayer line by those who worship evils might. But I must warn you that once you accept my offer, you will no longer be considered human in the eyes of magic." The man spoke in a manner that showed that he was being honest.

Xander began to think over the sacrifice that he would be required to make if he accepted the man's offer. On one hand, he would be given the proper tools and skills needed to be a successful demon hunter. But on the other hand, he would have to sacrifice being human in exchange for the training. However, he was worried that he be turned into a demon or something that'll put him on Buffy's radar.

"Tell me something, first. If I accept your offer of training, will I become a demon?" he asked with some concern.

The man simply chuckled at the fear of being turned into a demon that Xander was showing if he accepted the deal. While he didn't mind the idea of allowing demons to peacefully coexist with humanity on earth, he couldn't stand the idea of turning somebody into a demon even if they were willing to be one.

"Relax, kid. In order for your body to be able to handle the power within you, I have to change your genetic structure to that of a person that hailed from the ancient Moon Kingdom. The penalty for agreeing to this transformation is that you'll be cursed with near-immortality once you reach the age of twenty-two." The figure explained to his future student about the transformation that he would be forced to undergo.

Xander raised an eyebrow in surprise at the mentioning of a kingdom once being on the moon. As far as he was aware of, the United States government had found no evidence that there had been any life on the only natural satellite of the planet Earth when they sent people to the planetoid back in the late sixties and early seventies. However, the Californian suddenly remembered that when magic was involved almost anything was considered possible to achieve.

"So what you're basically saying to me is that if I accept the deal, I'll outlive everyone that I will ever know and care for?" he summarized the deal that he had been offered.

The man nodded his head in confirmation as he didn't need to repeat the offer as he knew that Xander was a lot smarter than people tended to realize or cared about. Besides, it was about time that the two of them merged into the single being that they were meant to be. The man still couldn't believe that his own mother would be spiteful enough to split them into two separate beings and bind their powers in the hopes of killing them. Sometimes, Queen Serenity could be a real bitch to people that she perceived to have committed a wrong or slight against her.

Xander remained silent as he contemplated the dire situation that he currently found himself in. On one hand, he had been offered the chance to continue hunting demons and vampires for far longer than a normal human could due to the human race's limited lifespan. The cost was that he'd be forced to watch as his friends and loved ones grow old and frail before finally dying of old age, while he remained in his youthful prime. There's was also the fate that was waiting for him back in the dark alleyway if he refused that needed to be taken into account as well.

That's when he remembered what his uncle had told him about being soldier in any type of war. It doesn't matter how long that a person lives for, as long as they leave the world a better place then they're life was a good one. With those words repeatedly echoing inside of his mind, he came to a grim realization of what he must do.

"Ok, stranger. You got yourself a student." Xander spoke as he offered his right hand to be shaken.

The stranger smiled as he took Xander's right hand with his left. He knew that his current carnation would agree to his offer as they were one-in-the-same in terms of personality and experiences. That left only one thing left for him to do.

"You won't regret this decision, Alexander. Also please call me by proper name, Tastumaru." The now identified Tastumaru commented as he shook his student's hand before a blinding white light engulfed the two of them.

* * *

**BACK IN THE REAL WORLD**

* * *

The void demon snarled in anger and disappointment as its prey refused to continue on fighting back like it had been earlier. It had simply closed its eyes and accepted its fate of being the demon's first meal in the last three-thousand years. That's was until the creature noticed that a white light was beginning to appear in the center of the prey's forehead and it felt absolutely divine in terms of power. The last time, it had felt this type of power had been four-thousand years ago during a failed raid on the realm of Valhalla. Unlike the power that it felt from the Asgardians, this power was far more powerful and dangerous. Out of fear, the demon jumped several feet back to observe what was happening.

To its amazement and horror, a ring of white energy began to surround the pathetic human like a protective shield. Soon that divine ring became an impenetrable dome of energy that shielded the demon's prey from sight. The void demon knew that its master wouldn't be very happy that it allowed the prince to awaken his powers, but the chance for it to kill the prince at full-power was too great for it ignore. So it watched with a large amount of anticipation in its eyes as the dome of energy turned into a pillar of pure light that shot straight into the sky. It watched in amazement as the pillar of the light turned the night time into a moment of daytime that would be last thing that dozens of vampires that were wandering the streets at the moment would see before they instantly turned to dust.

This moment of daytime lasted for several minutes before the light began to taper off and allow the night time to return. As the light died down, the void demon noticed that its prey was longer lying down on the ground like it had been before. The demon noticed that the human had transformed into something that wasn't entirely human that seemed to radiate with magical energy. It also noticed that its prey had somehow managed to change out of his bright Neon-orange Hawaiian shirt that had allowed it to track him down with ease.

The human was wearing was a black Keikogi that was composed in two parts. The lower part consisted of a pair of Jika-tabi boots and a pair of special trousers with double-ties that fastened at the ankles, knees, and waist of the pants. He also had wrapping tied around his shins to keep the legs of the trousers tucked into the boots and to help them stay in place during movement. The upper portion of the outfit was made up of a jūdōgi top with the lapels hanging over the trousers and an obi sash tied around his waist. A unique feature of the top was the presence of protective arm-and-hand sleeves that stopped at the base of his middle fingers. He also had a slightly-longer-than-average straight-bladed ninjatō sword resting in a blue sheath with gold-inlaid that was strapped onto his back and held in place by a leather sling.

Overall, the human looked like one of the master's intelligence agents that were currently operating around the world and conducting sabotage missions on the behalf of certain nations that needed things taken care of without the action being traced back to them. However, the person in front of it and the master's spies were on two entirely different levels of skills and abilities. The master's agents had thousands of years to master their skills to the point that they were almost unstoppable; the being in front of it had no such experience.

So with that in mind, the demon let out a mighty roar and charged at the human standing in front of him. Only for the human morsel to disappear from its sight at the very last second as it was about clamp down on their neck and rip their head off. That's when it sudden felt a sharp and stinging pain on its left side.

"That's for the cut over my eye that you gave me earlier, demon." The human spoke with disdain for the demon was extremely evident in their voice.

The demon turned around to find that the human's back was facing it and was holding the ninjatō sword in their right hand. The tip of the blade was covered in a ghastly green liquid that meant only one thing to the void demon. When the human had disappeared, it had been able to draw their sword from the weapon's sheath and cut it with speeds that shouldn't be possible for a normal human. However at the sight of its green blood dripping off of the bladed weapon, what little rational thought that the demon had before quickly disappeared. The Demon let out a loud screech that would scare off any lesser person before turning around and charging at the black-cladded warrior.

The human only turned their head slightly in acknowledgement towards it before disappearing like it did last time. The next thing that the demon felt was a sharp painful sensation just below were its head connected to its neck before everything went dark.

* * *

**XANDER'S P.O.V.**

* * *

Xander stared at the headless demon corpse that he had created with a simply flick of his wrist. It was perfectly clear that the demon had the intelligence of a low-level predatory animal that preferred to hunt in packs rather than hunting alone. Unlike tigers that tended to hunt alone and knew when to pull back after failing to kill their prey the first time, the creature had repeatedly tried the same tactic repeatedly in the hopes that it would kill him. It was kinda of sad that this demon hadn't been smart enough to cut its losses and leave for green pastures. However, the fact that he had killed a dangerous demon brought him a small amount of comfort as it meant that one less thing was stalking the town at night.

"You were nothing more than a wild animal that was simply looking for its next meal, but I had to eliminate you as it would most likely have been a human." Xander commented as he stared at the demon's body with a look of sadness in his eyes.

He really didn't mind when he and the girls killed vampires or demons that were of higher-levels of intelligence as they knew perfectly what they were doing. However, he was always deeply troubled by the sheer ruthless and glee that Buffy and Willow showed when they killed a demon that was no smarter than a feral predator and was simply acting in the way that nature had intended them to be. He wasn't the only person that shared this concern as his Computer Science teacher had stopped tutoring Willow in the magical arts out of fear of the red-headed girl casting a spell that was beyond her current capabilities. The fact that the formerly meek Jewish girl had become increasingly arrogant with each new spell that she learned was also worrying.

"_It's just like what you people say about people and power. Power corrupts a person, but absolute power corrupts a person absolutely."_ He suddenly heard Tastumaru comment from inside of his head.

Xander nearly dropped his sword in surprise at hearing the man's voice inside of his head. If he didn't know better, he would believe that he was starting to go insane from having to deal with everything on the hellmouth, since his the start of his sophomore year.

"_Can you please not do that again, Tastu?"_ He mentally asked as he twirled his sword in the air before he resheathed it into its sheath.

He had previously decided to shorten Tastumaru's name to Tastu as it would easier for him to remember in the long run. The Californian teen was well-aware that the two names had two entirely different meanings in the Japanese language, but he was pretty sure that Tastumaru didn't mind having his name shortened.

"_I can't make any promises, kid."_ Tastumaru responded as he rolled his eyes at the display of swordsmanship that Xander had just shown.

The spirit was well-aware that as a child that Xander and his best friend Jesse McNally used to play Samurai and Ninja with plastic samurai swords to the point that they could have been considered novice swordsmen. It was truly a sad day that the two boys grew up and stopped playing that weird off shoot of Cops & Robbers.

Before Xander could make any retorts about Tastu being more than capable, he clinched his head in pain as it began to throb uncontrollably as the mother of all headaches besieged him. He had no freaking idea what was going on as he rarely ever got headaches. It was at this moment that he began seeing flashes of memories that he could only guess belonged to Tastumaru. However, all of the memories involved a woman with curly brown hair and a pair of emerald green eyes that seemed to be mesmerizing to look at. The fact that she was always seemed to be wearing a modified leotard that resembled a Japanese school girl uniform was also another reason why he paid attention.

"_What's wrong, Kid!?"_ Tastumaru asked with clear alarm in his voice as he watched his future self whither in pain for some unknown reason.

Was it possible that Queen Serenity had taken an extra precaution to make sure that her son never resurrected completely in the future? No, that definitely wasn't the case as she was way to prideful about her magical abilities to think that far ahead or even to contemplate taking those kinds of precautions.

"_I keep seeing memories of a woman with wavy brown hair and emerald green eyes that seem to bring much comfort. She's also wearing a white leotard with a dark green skirt that's been modified to look like those sērā fuku uniforms that Japanese girls were to school."_ Xander mentally responded as he collapsed to his knees from the pain that he was in.

At hearing the description of his long-lost love, Tastumaru instantly became stunned. He knew that the soul of his beloved wife from the past had been sent to the future like the others, but for his current incarnation to already be seeing images of her was simply unthinkable to him. However, his concern for his newly acquired student took precedence over everything else and that included the possible whereabouts of Princess Lita.

"_Hang on, kid. I'm about to do something extremely drastic that'll probably save your life."_ The ancient warrior-prince spoke before he began chanting in a strange dialect that hadn't been heard in the solar System since before the fall of the Moon Kingdom.

Within seconds, the massive headache that Xander had been feeling was starting to become more bearable for him. After a few minutes, the headache was completely gone and he was slowly getting back onto his feet after the head throbbing stopped.

"Tastu, what the hell was that?" the Californian asked as it felt like his head was about to explode if the headache had continued any longer.

For several seconds, he received no answer as he waited for Tastumaru to respond.

"_It was nothing, kid. I recommend that you power down and go home to get some rest as you have a big day tomorrow."_ Tastu suddenly responded like nothing had happen.

Xander had the sinking suspicion that his teacher was hiding something from him, but decided not to push the issue as the spirit had raised a valid point about him having a big day tomorrow. The only question that he had on his mind was how exactly does he transform back into his regular appearance? He figured that it involved him willing himself to change back into being a normal human. The only problem was how exactly does he do just that?

"_Kid, you just need to concentrate on the clothes that you were wearing before you transformed and the magic will take care of the rest."_ Tastumaru commented before continuing what he had been doing earlier to stop the headaches from occurring.

Xander did what he was told and concentrated on the clothes that he had been wearing before he had been attacked by the demon. He had been wearing a bright neon-orange Hawaiian shirt and a navy blue long sleeved t-shirt underneath it. He had also been wearing a pair of blue jeans that had seen better days and a pair of black sneakers that were on the verge of falling apart on him completely. In many ways, his clothes were constant reminders of the undue hardships that his father had made him and his mother endure due to his alcoholism.

A few seconds later, he felt a sudden drain of energy and instantly became exhausted from it. He felt both of his knees starting to buckle from exhaustion and the weight of his body. He knew that it would be only a matter of time before his body gave out on him. Sure enough, a minute later he collapsed onto his hands and knees at the entrance of the alleyway that led to the street that his parents' house was on. As he struggled to get back on his feet, he noticed that there were several red dots on the ground.

"_Hey Tastumaru, can you do anything about the cut that the demon gave me before I met you?"_ Xander mentally wondered as he got off of his hands and sat on his legs to gather his strength.

At this point, he really didn't care if his unexpected guest could only do enough to leave only a scar on his face. Heck, he was well-aware that many ancient warrior cultures had viewed scars gained in combat as badges of honor that proved one's bravery in battle. However, he didn't want to give his mother an excuse to be a mother hen by coming home with a bleeding cut that ran over his left eye. If Buffy thought an angry Joyce Summers was the worst, then the slayer never had the pleasure of seeing his mother being worried.

"_I'll see what I can do for you as healing magic was never really my cup of tea."_ Tastumaru commented as he began to concentrate on the wound.

Instantly, Xander began to literally feel the open wound close up and it was an experience that he wouldn't want to experience again anytime soon. If he thought that forced closing of the wound was bad, he hadn't had the unique experience of feeling twenty-five medical stitches being magically sown into his skin to keep the wound from opening up again. However, he simply gritted his teeth and endured the two unique sensations without complaint.

"That was an unpleasant experience to say the very least, but thank god it's over." He commented as he got onto his feet and began walking home, while secretly hoping that both of his parents were asleep.

Little did the Californian know, his journey was only just beginning.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Japan**

* * *

Princess Lita Kino of the Kingdom of Jupiter sighed in boredom as she watched her reincarnation battle against one of the Dark Kingdom's great youma. While she was thrilled that her current life had finally awakened her Sailor Senshi powers, she was slightly irritated by the lack of effort on Luna's part in trying to find her. Then again, that talking cat always had a one track mind when it came to the Princess. It was one of the many reasons why her beloved Tastumaru had relied more on his own advisors than the Queen's or his sister's.

"By the gods, I can do something exciting as I've been cooped up in this place for the last fourteen years." Lita whined in a somewhat exaggerated manner.

Unlike her husband that had the patience of a saint, she had always been somewhat of an adrenaline junkie that needed to be kept occupied with something exciting. So for here to be trapped inside of the mind of her future self without any to do was nothing less than cruel and unusual punishment in her humble opinion. However, all of that was about to change as a familiar power was going to wash over her like a massive thunder storm. Lita's knees buckled both in lust and delight at the feeling her beloved's power for the first time countless millennia as she had always been turned on by the amount of power that he constantly gave off.

The Prince had always been extremely powerful in the field of magic as he constantly practiced his magic on a daily basis to the point of exhaustion. Many of the jealous nobles would often accuse him of using black magic to increase his powers exponentially to the point that investigations into the Prince's growth in power were a biweekly occurrence. What the idiotic fools didn't realize was that prince Tastumaru had secretly developed his own style of magic that reveal on a person's own spiritual energy called ki, rather than taking the energy from the environment surrounding them. Lita had always known that jealousy and vanity had always been the two biggest weaknesses of the Moon Kingdom's aristocracy, but some of the nobles were just plain spiteful of the prince's success.

"Soon my beloved king, we will be reunited once more and we'll start that loving family that had always been denied to you since the beginning." Lita commented as she watched Sailor Moon defeat the Great Youma with the use of the Moon stick.

* * *

**Okay Chapter two for the Prince of the Moon Kingdom is officially done. The Prince's name has finally been revealed to us and he's currently inside the mind of our favorite Californian Zeppo.** **I also have finished the general outline of the story. It's combination of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Angel franchise and the Sailor Moon Franchise. So expect villains from both franchises to be after Xander for various reasons. I also have finalized the villain roster for the story. However, if you guys want to give me suggestions for possible minions then leave a review describing the abilities of the minion and what they looks like. If I like it enough then I'll put it into my story.**

**So with being said and done, please leave a review. This is Trooper0007 signing off. Hoorah to Ashes, Readers! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: The Consequences of One's Actions**

* * *

Sailor Pluto was desperately searching for the source of the magical wave of energy that she had felt eighteen hours ago. There was no mistaking who exactly the energy signature belonged to as she had been around him long enough to be intimately familiar with his magic. The fact that the energy had shot up into the sky like a giant beacon really helped in the matter as it allowed her narrow down her searching area to a small American town in southern California. The only problem was that the town was located on top of a dark nexus point, thus making it almost impossible for her to find Prince Tastumaru's reincarnation.

"_Why in the queen Serenity's beloved name, was Prince Tastumaru reincarnated on top of a dark nexus point that's within the one country that'll most likely refuse to submit themselves to the authority of Neo-Silver Millennium? It'll just make things a lot harder than they need to be."_ The ageless sailor scout thought to herself as she searched for her beloved prince.

Back during the time period of the silver millennium, the continent of North America had been largely uninhabited due to the dozens of dark nexuses that dotted the landscape. So when the people began settling on the continent, she had taken the time to observe them for any negative effects. The only significant thing that she could see was that one out of every one hundred-thousand children were born with telepathic abilities and that number was steadily growing. Her concerns only increased over the years as she witnessed the rapid expansion of the United States of America and its transformation into a global superpower. By the end of the Second World War with the dropping of the Atomic bombs on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, she came to the horrible realization that a significant number of human population would rather fight to the death in the name of democracy and freedom than submit themselves to the benevolent rule and safety of Princess Serenity.

"Are you having any luck in finding the source of that magical power on your end, Setsuna?" Muninn asked as he eyed her with some concern about the lack of progress in finding the prince.

While he had faith that the prince could handle himself long enough for them to find him, the raven was well-aware that time was of the essence. If they could easily detect the magical beam of energy from another plane of existence then every single dark being that had a vendetta against the Moon Kingdom could as well.

"It's a lot harder than it appears, Muninn. The dark energy that's being emitted from the nexus point in Sunnydale is making it extremely difficult for me to locate him." Sailor Pluto answered as she continued to search the town for anybody that matched the facial futures of the prince.

So far, she had only been able to find a forty-year-old man with steel-white hair, who was spending most of his time drinking at a bar. While the man had a similar signature to the prince's own, she could recognize that it was nothing more than lingering magic from her true target. Judging by the magical residue that was lingering around the man, he clearly was exposed to the prince on a regular basis. Perhaps the man was somehow related to the prince's human form, if that was the case then she would need to keep an eye on the man in the future.

"So far, all I've managed to find is man that has traces of magical residue that's similar to the magical energy that we felt earlier on him. However, I can easily tell that he is definitely not the one that we're looking for." She commented as she turned her attention elsewhere in the town.

At the mentioning of a man that might have a possible connection to their lord and master, the two Coronisans became intrigued. They knew that the Prince was going to be around the same age as Prince Endymion, so it might be possible that the man was the father for the incarnation of Prince Tastumaru. That's when Huginn came up with a brilliant idea that didn't seem possible for her.

"Perhaps, if we use the man's own life signature to look for the prince?" The female Coronisan suggested as she remembered that a child's life signature was a combination of their parents.

Both Muninn and Setsuna looked at Huginn with widen eyes and shock at such a simplistic and brilliant idea. It stood to reason that if they went with her idea then they would have a reasonably good chance of finding the prince. So with a solid plan of attack, the guardian of the planet Pluto got familiar with the life signature of the half-drunk man to aid in her search for the prince. However, the wielder of the Garnet rod had the sinking suspicion that the man had never done anything positive in his life.

Once Pluto became familiar enough with the man's life signature, she began searching the small town for a person with a similar signature. Her first attempt, she had managed to find another man that looked almost exactly like the first one. Muninn and Huginn could only snicker in amusement as Setsuna resisted the urge to swear loudly at the sight of a second human that looked nearly the same as the man at the bar. Her second attempt was much more successful as she managed to narrow down her searching area to one of the town's high schools, which happened to be located directly on top of the dark nexus point. That certainly gave a whole new mean to the saying that school is an absolute hell for children.

"This is as close as I can get without causing the nexus point to go off from the magic that power my spells." Pluto commented as she mentally cursed the magic wielding nobility of the fallen moon kingdom for their unwillingness to push the boundaries of their understanding of magic.

This was the exact opposite action that Prince Tastumaru would take as he would constantly work himself to the breaking point in order to further develop his magical abilities. In fact, he had managed to develop his magic to the point that it had evolved into something that he called the ninpō arts. Unlike the regular magic of the Moon Kingdom's magi, Ninpō arts were much more combat-oriented in nature and were extremely versatile in usage. The only downside to it was that it often required the ninpō user to chant in a language that was completely similar to modern-day Siddhaṃ script that was used by the Japanese Tantric Buddhism sect for mystical purposes.

"It's quite alright, Setsuna. With any luck, we'll be able to find the prince and give him the device that'll allow him to access his powers at will." Muninn spoke as he and Huginn stretched their wings in preparation for their journey to Sunnydale.

He felt guilt for not telling Sailor Pluto that Prince had cast a slightly different spell on himself and Sailor Jupiter then the one that Queen Serenity had used to send the Princess and the Sailor Scouts' souls into the future. The ancient spell allowed the prince and Sailor Jupiter's consciousness to remain separate while their souls were reincarnated into new bodies. This was extremely dangerous as it could lead to a person developing schizophrenia.

"I wish you the best of luck in your search for Prince Tastumaru for the two of you." Setsuna spoke as she watched as the birds began flapping their wings as they lifted themselves into the air before flying off.

The daughter of the god known as Chronos sighed as she watched the two ravens disappear into the black void that surrounded the time gate that led to Crystal Tokyo. She knew that by helping the two Coronisan advisors, she had most likely prevented the creation of the dismal future that Queen Serenity had wanted. However, she found herself no longer caring as she had faith that prince Tastumaru would guide humanity towards the path of enlightenment.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Sunnydale High School's Library**

* * *

Rupert Giles let out a trouble sigh as he looked through various tomes that had information on the various demons that inhabited the world alongside humans. The reason behind this sudden research was due to the fact that Willow had come across a demon that looked an awful lot like the dinosaur known as Deinonychus antirrhopus that had existed during the early Cretaceous period of Earth's long history. If he didn't know any better, he would honestly thought that the young wiccan-in-training had found a dinosaur that had managed to survive for millions of years completely unchanged until recently. What concerned him more was the fact that the creature had its head cleanly cut off by someone or something that was extremely skilled with a bladed weapon. His first thought was that Buffy had been the one to kill the previously unknown demon, but that was quickly shot down by Willow as she pointed out that she had walked home by herself.

"_Could it be possible that Xander was the one that killed this demon?"_ Giles thought to himself as he tried to think of people that could have beheaded the demon so cleanly with such weapons.

He quickly squashed that line of thought as he knew for a fact that the younger man didn't have the weaponry nor the skills needed to do such a thing. The most likely culprit was probably a veteran demon-hunter that recently arrived into town and had simply come across the demon by chance. This in itself was a problem as independent demon hunters often times fought for reasons that went against the views and ideology of the Watcher's Council. Another problem with this theory was that most independents tended to rely more on modern-day firearms than on traditional weapons such as swords and crossbows. To the British Watcher's knowledge the only group that had used traditional weapons that the Council had dealings with in the last two-hundred years had been the various ninja clans of Japan.

Of course, the watcher's council had the vast majority of the ninja clans wiped out a few years after the end of Japan's two-hundred years of self-imposed isolationism in 1854. This brought them into conflict with the Japanese Imperial family as the shadow warriors provided a vital service to them by keeping many of unfriendly demons out of the island nation. The ruling committee at the time had justified the destruction of the ninja clans as being a necessary thing for the greater good of mankind. This answer seemed to only infuriate Meiji emperor to the point that he openly declared that the no members of the Watcher's Council would ever be allowed into his kingdom under penalty of death. That ban had only been lifted following the Allied occupation of Japan at the end of the Second World War at the insistence of Winston Churchill, who happened to be a secret member of the Watcher's Council.

"_Is it possible that small groups of ninja managed to survive the purge and spent the last one-and-half centuries rebuilding their clan?"_ Giles silently asked himself as he thought about how the way of the ninja had suddenly reappeared in the forever war against the supernatural without anybody noticing.

It was certainly a possibility as the ninja clans had been spread out across Japan to the point that it was almost impossible to find them all in a single place. To think otherwise was both foolish and arrogant to the point of recklessness. However, such a terrible prospect was something that the British man openly dreaded as it meant that the ninjas had spent all that time in isolation to rebuilding their clans and were now gearing up for extracting their terrible retribution from the organization that tried to wipe them out. The school librarian knew that Buffy was going to be their first target of revenge as it was the perfect way to send a message to the British dominated Watcher's council that their demise was close at hand.

While Buffy and Willow tended to believe that the slayer was a near-invincible warrior that could take on anything that came Buffy's way, he was much more realistic about a slayer's abilities when compared to a ninja's. A single ninja had been learning how to fight since before they knew how to walk on their own two feet. This was the complete opposite of the slayer, who usually started learning how to fight by the time that they were six-years-old. Ninjas were trained in various fields of science such as herbology and chemistry to help make their jobs easier to perform, while the slayer was only trained in how to use fight against demons using archaic weapons in order to teach them restraint and obedience. Ninja were able to blend into their surroundings and move around without much harassment by being masters of disguise, the slayers not so much. In the possible event that Buffy ever got into a fight with the ninja, she would be at a severe disadvantage as she was inexperienced in dealing with human opponents.

"If there's really an all powerful deity in the heavens above, then I can only hope that they'll be on our side in the coming conflict." Giles commented to himself as he removed his glasses to clean them of imaginary smudges.

* * *

**Later with Xander**

* * *

The seventeen-year-old Californian male walked at a brisk pace towards the front entrance of the school as he ignored the whispers of his schoolmates. He already knew that his classmates were talking about the twenty-five black stitches that kept the gash over his right eye closed. Thankfully for him, everybody was assuming that he had received the injury from being on the receiving end of a mugging that had gone terribly wrong. Of course, that didn't stop certain people within the school from trying to spread the rumor that he had been the mugger that had picked the wrong person to rob.

"_Leave it to that miserable little troll Snyder to try and slander my name."_ Xander thought to himself as he walked past the man-in-question's office and shot a nasty glare at the door that led to the office of Principle Snyder.

For whatever reason, it seemed like the man had always been out to get him in particular. At first, it was easy for Xander to simply ignore the constant verbal abuse that was through his way as Principle Flutie would always be close at hand to rein in his second-in-command. But that situation had quickly changed for the worse as Flutie had gotten eaten by a group of students that had been possessed by a bunch of Hyena spirits. So with nobody to keep him in line, Snyder began to make his life at the school as miserable as humanly possible. If this kept up for any longer, he might do something extremely drastic that could land him in a whole lot of trouble.

"_Relax, kid. Just take a couple of deep breathes and let it all out." _Tastumaru calmly suggested as he knew that keeping your emotions bottled up and making irrational decisions wasn't a very good thing to do in term of a person's long term health.

Xander did what he was told and took several deep inhales of air to get his emotions back under control. He remembered what his uncle told him about the fate of soldiers that allowed their emotions to dictate their decisions and judgment. They often came home in a body bag or missing a limb due to their ill-advised actions.

"_Thanks for the advice, Tastu. I really needed that breathing exercise to get reign in my temper."_ Xander thought as he didn't want people to think that he's crazy.

Whatever Tastumaru was going to say next was cut off by the sudden appearance of his Computer Science teacher, Miss Jenny Calendar. The Californian teenager had to resist the urge to jump backwards in surprise at the sight of her leaning against the door frame with a stern look on her face. No doubt, she wanted to talk to him in private about the most recent injury from demon hunting that he was currently sporting.

"Is there something on your mind, Miss Calendar?" he asked with a slight amount of irritation filling his voice as he wanted to leave school as soon as physically possible.

Miss Calendar simply shot him an annoyed look to show that she wasn't happy with his current attitude. Granted, she was probably well-aware of why he had such an attitude in the first place as Giles had most likely told her about what had transpired yesterday.

"Come with me, Mr. Harris." The fair-skinned woman ordered as she began walking back to her classroom knowing that he would follow her.

Xander mentally swore to himself as he followed the techno pagan back to her classroom as he knew what she wanted to talk about. He was pretty sure that Giles had given her an extremely edited version of what happened when his former friends kicked him out of the group. It was pretty obvious that the watcher was doing everything in his power to paint the former Scooby in a negative light, especially after he had punched Buffy squarely in the face.

"You know, Xander. I'm actually extremely disappointed in you and the way you treated your friends yesterday." Miss Calendar spoke as she opened her classroom's door to let the two of them inside.

Xander let out an annoyed huff as he walked into the room as he knew that the stern lecture was going to start out like this. However, he knew exactly how to deal with Ms. Calendar as she hated when people deceived her even the slightest. After all, Sun Tzu did say to know about your potential enemy's exploitable weaknesses in the case of war.

"I would be upset to, if I was lead to believe the selected bits of information that Giles was kind enough to tell you about the incident." Xander calmly commented as he sat down in a chair that was facing Ms. Calendar.

He could only mentally smirk to himself as he watched as Jenny narrowed her eyes at the implication of what he had said. The teen was well-aware of the fact that Ms. Calendar knew that he was playing on her dislike of being lied to by people that she cares for. Tastumaru couldn't help but be proud of his younger self's ability to manipulate a situation to his favor like a skilled political or shadow warrior would.

"Do you care to explain as to what exactly that you mean?" Ms. Calendar spoke in a dangerous tone that showed that she wasn't in the mood for any bullshit excuses as she sat against the front of her desk.

Xander's mental smile became an outwards grin as he knew that after he was done explaining about what had transpired between him and his former friends, Ms. Calendar would be firmly on his side in this matter. So without any hesitation or regret, he began explaining why he had severed his connections with the Scooby-gang. He even went so far as to tell her why he had punched Buffy in the face and hurled such hurtful insults at his former childhood friend. The more Jenny heard about the incident from Xander, the angrier she got at the Scooby-gang. How dare they kick their friend out of the group just because he didn't have any special powers of his own?

"It seems like I'm going to have a little chat with Giles about withholding important details from their about important meetings." Jenny angrily commented as she clenched the edge of her desk to the point that she could broken off a couple of chunks out of it.

It irritated her to no end that Giles had seen fit to manipulate her in order to get Xander to apologize for actions that he had every right to commit. Whatever romantic feelings that she might have had for the British man died away as she realized that Rupert was no different than the other members of the Watcher's Council. All the man really cared about was maintaining his image as the overseer to one of the slayers and keeping what little influence over the council that he still had.

"Xander, you can leave. I'm sorry for falsely accusing you of mistreating your friends." Jenny reluctantly stated as she really hated to admit to someone that she had been wrong about something.

Xander nodded his head in gratitude before getting up out of his seat and heading towards the door. He had a lot of perpetration to do and very little amount of time to do it, if he wanted to go out on patrol on his own tonight.

* * *

**With Huginn and Muninn**

* * *

The two Ravens sat on a power line that hung in front of the school as they waited patiently for a teenager that looked like their former prince to appear. So far, they had only encountered several people that bore the prince's magical signature. Perhaps, they were extremely close associates of the prince's incarnated form? If that were the case, then they would need to keep a close eye on them as they could possibly develop magical abilities that were similar to those that kingdom's sorcerers used. However, they were greatly concerned about the particularly dark aurora that had been surrounding a red-headed girl that had walked out of the building earlier.

"_That red-headed girl needs to be closely observed as she was walking down the same dark path that Queen Beryl had walked all those millennia ago."_ Muninn thought to himself as he watched the red-head girl walked away from the school with a petite blonde haired girl that gave off small amounts of demonic energy.

While the blonde girl that gave off demonic energy was of some concern, he was more concerned about the red-head as she was giving off dark vibes that the ruler of the dark kingdom had during the earlier years of her reign. If something wasn't done to correct this growing problem soon, then the human race might be dealing with a witch that was just as powerful as Queen Beryl. The blue-eyed raven didn't know what was worse, the fact that there was a human female that was walking down the same path Beryl had done centuries ago or the fact that Queen Beryl herself had managed to somehow return from the grave.

Muninn's silent musings were cut short as he heard Huginn take a noticeable deep inhale of air. The reason why this insignificant action had caught Muninn's attention was due to the fact that his mate rarely committing such an action without reason. He looked at the doorway that led into to the school and instantly realized what his life-long mate had been surprised by. Walking out of the school was a young man around the age of seventeen that looked exactly like Prince Tastumaru did before the prince's hair had turned snow-white. The only difference between the two being the twenty-five black medical sutures that were above and below the teen's right eye.

"Huginn don't get your hopes up about that human being just yet as we still need to check his magical signature to be certain." Muninn warned as he didn't want his mate to get her hopes up, only to have them dashed to pieces.

Huginn nodded her head as she knew better than to get ahead of herself, but she couldn't help to feel hopeful as it seemed that their quest in finding the prince was almost over. After countless years of being ridiculed by their fellow Coronisan advisors, they would finally be vindicated.

"Yes, dear." Huginn spoke in a whisper as she knew that her husband had grown extremely cynical over the eons as they continued their tireless search for their ruler and friend.

The two ravens closed their eyes and stretched out their magical sensing abilities to check the young man for any magical energy. What they found completely blew their minds as not only did the human have a magical signature that was buried deep within him, but it roared like an uncontrollable forest fire. There was no mistake for the two Coronisan ravens that had tirelessly searched for the male heir to the moon Kingdom's throne. They had finally found their beloved prince.

* * *

**Notes**

**Deinonychus antirrhopus: In ****Greek, it ****means terrible claw and is the scientific name of the raptor species of dinosaurs. The most famous of this species being the****Velociraptor due to Steven ****Spielberg's Jurassic park franchise.**

* * *

**Ok, next chapter will have Xander meeting Huginn and Muninn for the first time. It will also be the chapter where he consciously transforms into his ninja form for the first time and fights the Judge on equal footing. Now for people that are thinking that I'm bashing the Scooby-gang, I will admit that they are going to be bashed a lot in this story as they have become Xander's rivals and enemies (Wink-wink). Also I will have a couple of characters from the Mortal Kombat franchise make an appearance in the next chapter. If you guys guess correctly then you'll get a cyber-cookie. So with that being said, please leave a review with your comments and thoughts.**

**So until next time, readers. Hoorah to Ashes!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: The Butterfly Effect**

* * *

**This chapter is going to focus on the Sailor Scouts. You have been warned.**

* * *

The Dark One let out a disappointed snort as he listened to his subordinate tell him that the void demon had failed in its mission to kill the reincarnated prince. Granted, the creature's species wasn't known for being capable of fighting opponents on their own without it being significantly smaller than them. The only reason why he even allowed the demon to try and kill his enemy was to gauge Tastumaru's current level of skill. When the dark one finally extracted his revenge, he wanted the prince of the moon kingdom to be at the very peak of his performance. Only then, would he even bother to crush the bastard that was responsible for his one-hundred millennium long imprisonment.

"_**Soon, I will be granted the honorable battle to the death that had been denied to me by the Moon Kingdom all those millennia ago." **_The dark one mused to himself as he continued to listen to his minion as they gave him their report on the situation.

While the Dark one dreamed of the duel to the death with the one being that he considered to be the greatest threat to his power, his assembled army were whispering to each other about the news that the void demon being killed by the reawakened prince. It was no secret that the only reason why their master had recruited the void demons into his army was for them to act like an expendable vanguard that would wreck havoc on the opposing army before the main body arrived. So they weren't really surprised by the demon's failure to carry out their master's will and were now inching for a chance to fight against the one that stood against them.

"My lord, I believe that we need to send one of our elite shadow warriors to deal with the false prince." The minion advisor suggested as he wanted his master to crush the bastard offspring of Queen Serenity.

The Dark One briefly contemplated his minion's advice as he tried to figure out his next move. What the minion had said was extremely practical as he could easily send a member of his elite guard to dark nexus point and have them kill the incarnated prince in his sleep with simple ease. However, using such means to achieve victory over a worthy foe often left an extremely bitter taste in his mouth. To him, there was simply no honor in simply assassinating an opponent as they often didn't have a chance to fight back.

"**I require a warrior to go to the city of Tokyo and gauge the fighting abilities of the Sailor Scout known as Sailor Jupiter."** The Dark One Suddenly ordered as he used his foresight to observe the civilian identities of the sailor scouts.

At the mentioning of one of the Sailor Scouts, every warrior n the room scoffed in disgust at the mere thought of them. While they could respect Prince Tastumaru as he tended to focus on his martial skills then his magical abilities in combat, the Sailor scouts were merely magic users pretending to be warriors. Such people were lower than the worms living inside of dirt in their collective minds as such practices demeaned the very concept of what being a true warrior meant. However, if there master wanted them to spy on the sailor scouts then they will obey his command.

One of the warriors stepped forward and approached the throne to request the small honor of carrying out the mission. The warrior was wearing a black metal version of the traditional armor that Japanese Samurai wore during the warring states period. In many ways, the black-clad warrior looked exactly like the warriors that Talpa had used during his failed invasion of Japan that happened back in the early nineteen-nineties. The only real difference between the Dark One's warriors and Talpa's forces was that the Dark One's warriors weren't spirits that were trapped inside suits of armor. In truth, the Dark One's forces were entirely made up of living beings that were made out of flesh and blood that had willingly sold their souls to him.

"My lord, I humble request that I be allowed to undertake this mission that you need taken care of." The warrior humbly spoke as he kneeled before his master without any hesitation.

The Dark One briefly looked the warrior over to see if he was actually strong enough to carry out the task. The warrior was dressed in the standard issue armor of the Ashigaru that made up the bulk of his forces. Overall, the warrior looked like the vast majority of his forces with the sole exception being the presence of the kanji for "death" being on the front side of the armor. It were small things like this, that the Dark One was looking for as it marked a soldier that was capable of thinking on their own. These soldiers were the ones that were often promoted to higher ranks and give a lot more autonomy to conduct their operations as they saw fit.

"**Very well, I shall grant you the small honor of fighting the Sailor Scouts. However, I do not want you to kill any of them as it might alert the gods and cause them to strengthen the seal that keeps us imprisoned."** The Dark One spoke as he made sure that his minion didn't liberally interpret his orders in any way that might alert the Elder gods of his plans.

If the warrior died in battle, then the Elder gods would simply believe that the fallen pawn was simply a deranged holdout that he had gone insane waiting for his master's return. If any of the Sailor Scouts died then they would keep a closer eye on the seal and possibly strengthen it to be on the safe side.

"Your wish is my command, my lord." The warrior spoke as he slowly rose from off of his knees to carry out his master's will.

For a brief second, the Dark One's eyes glowed bright red before he waved his right hand as he teleported the warrior down to Tokyo to carry his mission. Instantly, the warrior disappeared in a flash of dark energy that seemed more sinister than anything that the Dark Nexuses could produce. Fortunately for the earth, the amount of power that was required to pierce the seal long enough to send a single warrior onto the planet would often drained the Dark One of his magical powers enough to cause him to rest for long periods of time.

"_**Let us see if the Prince's chosen mate is actually dangerous enough to pose a threat." **_The Dark one thought to himself as he lowered his hand back onto its respective arm rest.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Sailor Jupiter and the Sailor Scouts were currently locked in combat with a youma that was under the command of Zoisite and currently winning the battle. In truth, that would be something that Sailor Jupiter would honestly like to see happening as she was currently the only one still standing at the moment. All of the other Sailor Scouts had been turned into statues from the neck down due to the youma's ability to petrify its victims with a special gas that it omitted from its mouth. Even that ridiculous looking Tuxedo Mask had been taken down with great ease by this terrible monster, but that wouldn't stop her from fighting on.

"Face it Sailor Scouts, You've lost! With this Youma under my command, The Dark Kingdom is unstoppable!" Zoisite boasted as she look at the remaining Sailor Scout that hadn't been paralyzed by the reptilian looking gorgon.

Sailor Jupiter angrily glared at the female Shitennou for mocking her and her friend's efforts to protect the people of Tokyo from Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. Overhead, she heard several news copters hovering above the battle and recording everything that was unfolding. The green clad Sailor Scout clenched her fists as an eerie lighting storm began developing in the previously crystal clear skies.

"_I can't lose! Not until I find my soul mate and live a fulfilling life!"_ Jupiter thought to herself as the sound of lighting began cracking overhead.

Zoisite was about to give the command to the youma when something strange happened that seemed only possible in the realm of mythology. A bolt of lightning struck the ground between the sailor Scouts and the youma, which blinded everybody in the general vicinity.

It was however, a completely different story for the handful helicopter crews that were flying safely high above the epicenter of the lightning strike. Several of them could barely make out a figure that was standing right in the center of where the lightning bolt had struck just seconds earlier.

Within seconds, the flash of light had faded away to reveal a humanoid figure wearing black samurai armor with a white unadorned menpō covering the being's face. In the figure's left hand was a Jūmonji yari spear, while hanging off of the unknown being's right hip was a Katana sword. The being's eyes seem too glowed with purple energy that seemed to be pure evil to those that could see them. However, what really disturbed everybody across Japan that had been watching the battle between the Sailor Scouts and the Dark Kingdom's latest attack was the fact that the being looked reminiscent of the warriors that the Dynasty had used to attack them.

Jupiter looked at the being with a curiousness bubbling inside of her as a part of her wanted to ignore the youma and attack the figure that had interfered in her battle. She glanced over to Zoisite to see how she was taking this new development and what she saw astounded her. Zoisite was taking several steps away from the armored being with a look of absolute fear and dread on her face.

"No, it can't be! The seal of the dark moon was supposed to keep them locked up for all of eternity!" She heard the Dark Kingdom General whisper to no one in particular.

Jupiter glanced over to Luna, who was hiding in a nearby bush to see what her reaction was to all of this. To her amazement, the purple-haired cat was sharing the same looks of fear as Zoisite and was shaking uncontrollably. Whatever this being was, they had managed to strike fear into both Luna and Zoisite at the same time with nothing more than their sheer appearance.

"Well, well, it looks like I arrived just in time to prevent these fools from the Dark Kingdom from interfering in my master's plan." The samurai armored figure spoke in a disgusted tone that had a large metallic echoing in his voice that sent shivers up everybody's spines.

The gorgon-like youma foolishly charged at the being with the intent to striking the interloper down for interfering in its moment of triumph over the Sailor Scouts. Only for the figure to simply sidestep to the left and causing the youma to rush past them. However, the figure wasn't completely finished as they quickly spun around with their yari at the ready and stabbed the youma directly in the head with a single motion.

All of the Sailor Scouts let out a horrified gasp at the sight of such brutality happening with such practiced ease. It was clear that this being was highly experienced in Sōjutsu and wasn't afraid of killing his opponents with his apparent skills with the spear. However, the vicious killing of the youma had the unintended side effect of freeing the Sailor Scouts from the paralysis that they had been previously been in. Instead of being grateful to the unknown warrior for freeing her friends, Jupiter remained on guard as something didn't sit right with her about them.

"Now that the trash is out of the way, I challenge the one known as Sailor Jupiter to one-on-one combat." The warrior spoke as he shifted his yari in a way that caused the youma's body to fly off of the tip of the spear.

The Sailor Scouts could only watch in horror and wince in disgust as the dead body crashed in front of Zoisite with a sickening crunch indicating that one or some of the bones inside of the youma's body had broken on impact. Despite the fact that the youma had been on the verge of killing them just moments earlier, they couldn't help to feel sorry for the way its body had been treated.

"Why do you want to fight me?" Sailor Jupiter questioned as she wearily eyed the armor figure's yari as the bladed portion was covered in green blood from the youma's body.

Whatever answer that the warrior was going to give them was cut off by a sudden charge from Tuxedo mask, who apparently just regained consciousness when nobody was looking. The love interest of Sailor Moon swung his cane as hard as he could in the hopes of injuring the dark warrior. Only to have his cane parried with relative ease by the warrior, who was holding their yari vertically while their right leg was on the ground in a kneeling position.

"I see that you still allow your emotions to dictate your actions, Prince Endymion. It's a shame that you didn't listen to Tastumaru's advice and warnings about placing the welfare of your people ahead of your love life." The black armor clad warrior taunted as he slowly began to rise off of the ground and overpower his attacker.

For some reason, Tuxedo Mask became enraged at what he heard as the figure had implied that he had been a terrible ruler in the past. The fact that he had been compared to a person by the name of Tastumaru seemed to only further his anger.

"As much I would love to humiliate you, I'm here on a mission for my lord and master. So I don't have time to deal with you and your inadequacies at the moment." The warrior spoke as he stood completely off of the ground and broke the block by directing Tuxedo Mask to the right.

This left Tuxedo Mask exposed and wide open for an attack, which was something that the unknown warrior took full advantage of. The warrior threw a single punch into his unwanted opponent with enough strength that the teen was sent flying into a nearby oak tree and knocking out the boy again.

"Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Moon shouted in alarm as Sailor Jupiter and Mars restrained her from rushing over to the downed black-haired seventeen-year-old.

While this was going on, Zoisite took the opportunity to escape from the area with her life intact. She knew that Queen Beryl was going to punish her for this failure, but she wasn't going to pick a fight with a minion of the Dark One. Even if that minion was completely deranged to the point that he believed that he was carrying out a mission in the name of his sealed away master. As the Shitennou disappeared in a whirlwind of Sakura petals, she could have sworn that she saw the spirit of Princess Lita overlaying the current Sailor Jupiter.

"To answer your earlier question, Sailor Jupiter. My master believes you might be one of only two people that could prevent his return to this mortal plane of existence and has sent me to see if that fear is well-placed." The warrior truthfully answered as he didn't believe there was any harm in letting the past lover of Prince Tastumaru knowing the truth.

At being called a potential threat to some unknown being's return to the earth, Sailor Jupiter instantly let go of Sailor Moon. Not that it mattered anymore as Sailor Moon had stopped struggling at hearing that her fellow Sailor Scout was considered a bigger threat than her. It was both relieving and concerning at the same time to hear such news. It was relieving for her to hear as it meant that she didn't have to worry about some other group coming after her. At the same time it was worrying as one of her friends was being targeted, instead of her.

"Why does your master considered Sailor Jupiter to be a greater threat to his plans than the rest of us?" Sailor Mercury inquired as she tried to mentally come up with a list of reasons that could explain why the newest member of the Sailor Scouts was given such consideration over the rest of them.

Mercury wasn't going to be foolish enough to think that she was good enough of a fighter to the point that any dark forces would think of her as a threat. Until Jupiter had joined the group, it had been Sailor Mars that was their best fighter. However, the black-haired girl had a fierce temper that often led to her jumping the gun. Then there was Sailor Moon, the supposed future Queen of the Earth. While Luna had confirmed that she had the most magical power out of all of the Sailor Scouts, the blue-haired girl had sinking suspicion that the cat hadn't told them everything.

"You'll just have to figure that out on your own as I'm not going to tell you what you want to know." The armored warrior taunted as he leveled his yari at the group of teenage girls.

The girls started to secretly panic at the news that the warrior wasn't going to be boastful like the generals of the Dark Kingdom and tell them the reason why he was targeting Sailor Jupiter. Sure, he had told them that his master had ordered it to be done. However, they desperately needed and wanted to know what made Jupiter so special to warrant such attention.

"Fine, then! We'll just have to beat the answers out of you!" Sailor Mars angrily yelled as she prepared to launch a fire attack at the uncooperative warrior.

Before she could actually launch the attack, a thunderous howl echoed through the air that sent chills down the spines of everybody that was watching the confrontation from the safety of their homes. The terrible howl had caused the Sailor Scouts to lower their guard as swiveled their heads around in order to locate its origin. They didn't need to search for very long as a shadowy canine figure leaped from behind the bushes were Luna was hiding and landed in front of the Sailor Scouts.

Various crytpozoologists and zoologists across Japan took a deep inhale of air at the sight of the creature that was being show. Standing in front of the Sailor Scouts was a Japanese wolf of the Hokkaidō subspecies. Everybody in Japan had long believed that both the Hokkaidō and Honshū subspecies of the Japanese wolf had gone extinct at the turn of the twentieth century, but to see one on national television shattered that previous belief. However, everybody was stunned by the sight of the wolf that many of them failed to notice the katana sword that was strapped to the side of the magnificent creature.

"It seems that Jupiter's pet wolf has finally decided to come out of hiding and revealed itself to the world." The warrior commented while being completely unfazed by the snarling and growling of the animal that was standing between him and his mission.

The Sailor Scouts looked at Sailor Jupiter with questionings eyes as they thought that she lived on her own with nobody to keep her company. Obviously, that wasn't the case as she had a pet wolf of all things to keep her company. Jupiter upon seeing the annoyed looks that her friends and comrades were shooting at her, she realized that she needed to explain the situation to them.

"Hey, this is first time in my life that I've ever seen this wolf." Jupiter truthfully commented as she raised her hands in a placating manner.

The annoyed looks from her fellow Sailor Scouts eased up slightly as they knew that she had no reason to lie to them about something like this.

"As much as I love watching you girls prattle on about irrelevant topics, I suggest that we get to the point of this meeting." The armored warrior spoke out in an annoyed manner that showed that he was losing his patience at the prolonging of his mission.

The Sailor Scouts turned their attention back to the warrior, who was patiently standing five meters away from them. They were surprised that he hadn't seized the opportunity to attack them, while they were distracted with the issue of the wolf appearing.

"Now that I have regained your attention, I challenge Sailor Jupiter to a duel in three weeks time. This shall be a duel that is bound by the samurai code of bushidō, therefore the use of magic is forbidden as it is unnatural. Do you accept my challenge, Sailor Jupiter?" the warrior spoke in a calm and collected manner that did his military discipline extremely proud.

The Sailor Scouts blinked in surprise at the challenge as the last person to issue such a thing had been Jadeite and that hadn't ended well for him. Sailor Jupiter contemplated over whether or not she should accepted the challenge. In her civilian identity as Makoto Kino, her family had been members of the prestigious samurai class before the Meiji Government abolished the class during the modernization of Japan. So to herm this was a chance to prove to her ancestors that she was a samurai just like they were. But before she could accept the dark warrior's challenge, Sailor Moon decided to make her opinion on the matter heard.

"My friend won't accept a dueling challenge from somebody as evil as you!" the blonde-haired leader of the group practically shouted with Sailor Mercury and Mars nodding their heads in agreement.

The armored warrior began chuckling at the three Sailor Scouts that honestly believed that their opinion in this matter actually had any weight in it. If they had been one of the five rōnin warriors that had managed to defeat Talpa then he would take the rejection a lot more serious.

"While you three may reject my challenge out of hand, your comrade seems to be taking my offer a lot more seriously." The warrior pointed out as he pointed at Sailor Jupiter, who had a contemplative look on her face.

The three Sailor Scouts looked over at their comrade to find that she was indeed thinking about accepting the challenge. Sailor Moon was about to place her hands on Jupiter's shoulder and try to convince her friend not to go through the duel, when she heard the wolf from before growling at her in an aggressive manner. She immediately backed off as she didn't want the only thing standing between her and armored warrior to attack her.

"If you don't accept my challenge then you'll be dishonoring yourself, your ancestors, and your past-life's lover." The warrior casually commented in the hopes of prodding the reincarnated wife of Prince Tastumaru into accepting his challenge.

At the mentioning that she'll be dishonoring her samurai ancestors with her cowardice, Jupiter became more incline to accept the challenge. But at hearing about her previous life's lover, something inside of her mind forced her to accept the challenge.

"Very well, I accept your challenge to a duel in three weeks time." Jupiter hesitantly spoke as she ignored the disappointed looks from her fellow Sailor Scouts and Luna.

It was this moment that the Japanese wolf in front of her stopped growling and sat down on the concrete walkway like it knew what was going on around it.

"Very good, Sailor Jupiter. I, the dark samurai known as Dōku shall wait for you at the Hikawa Shrine in three weeks times to have our duel. I wish for you to train hard and train well, Princess Lita." The now identified Dōku boldly declared as he bowed from the hip before disappearing in a burst of black flames.

Sailor Jupiter stared calmly at the black flames as they died down before turning towards her friends to find them all upset about her accepting the duel challenge. She let out a sigh as she knew that she was going to have to explain a lot of things to them.

* * *

**Later at Makoto's Apartment**

* * *

The four Sailor Scouts were sitting around a small coffee table with Luna the cat sitting on top of it. The wolf that had appeared in the park had long since disappeared into a grove of oak trees and Tuxedo Mask had regained consciousness about ten minutes after Dōku had left the area. The masked tuxedo hero wasn't happy to learn that Sailor Jupiter had accepted the duel, but he quietly sulked away with the little pride that he had left. So the Sailor Scouts left the park and headed towards a secluded place to transform back into their civilian identities before heading over to Makoto's apartment to discuss that day's battle.

"Makoto, I can't believe that you accepted that Dōku guy's challenge. Honestly, what on earth were you thinking?" Luna scolded the newest Sailor Scout for her brash action.

Rei Hino was thinking along the same lines as her family shrine had been the place chosen for the duel to take place at. The shrine had barely managed to avoid being destroyed by the United States' indiscriminate firebombing back during World War II. She seriously didn't think that it could survive a one-on-one duel between two supernatural beings with magical powers.

"I was thinking that I could honor my samurai ancestors by fighting in this duel." Makoto bluntly answered Luna's rhetorical question.

The girls blinked in surprise to learn that their friend was of samurai ancestry. While it was possible for a person with a Japanese heritage to be descended from a samurai line, the odds of meeting such a person were astronomical. Before the samurai class's disbandment in the late 1870's, only ten percent of the population of Japan had blood connections to the famous group of warriors. However, Ami Mizuno had a couple of questions about Makoto's knowledge of her ancestry.

"I thought you said that your parents were killed in an airplane accident when you were four or five years-old? So how do you know that you are of samurai descent?" The blue-haired girl commented as that type of information wasn't really told with pride since the start of the seven-year-long American Occupation of Japan at the end of World War II.

Makoto sighed as she was about to reveal something about herself that she had tried to keep hidden from everybody, save for a select few. It involved the reason why she was able to live on her own without having to work several jobs to afford to do so.

"One of my family's long-time business associates told me that I was of samurai descent a few weeks after my parents died." Makoto quietly spoke as she recalled how the old man that had scolded her for lacking any self-control that a proper onna-bugeisha or a female samurai would have.

The girls stared at Makoto with wide-eyes as long term business association could date back to as early as the warring states period, where the more economically savvy samurai clans made special trade arrangements with a merchant guild. These agreements were often beneficial to both sides as the samurai clan gained the strategic resources that they needed to wage war on their neighbors, while the merchant guild gained the exclusive right to trade in the samurai clan's personal domain. Often times, the leaders of the samurai clan would take the daughters of the Merchant guild's ruling family as brides or mistresses to further cement the alliance. So by the time that the Meiji government disbanded the samurai class, the samurai clan and the ruling family of the merchant guild had practically become one in the same. It was these few Samurai/merchant families that established the earliest zaibastu groups that dominated the Japanese economy until the end of World War II.

However, Luna didn't really understand the significance of Makoto's claim of samurai ancestry as she had been in hibernation until about four months before she met Usagi in that back alley. There was also the fact that she was more focused on getting the Sailor Scouts to achieve their destiny of resurrecting the Silver Millennium. So this conversation about Makoto's heritage wasn't really a big deal to the feline.

"I don't understand why you girls are making such a big deal about somebody's claim about being from a warrior ancestry, if anything Makoto being the reincarnation of Sailor Jupiter is a vast improvement to the lineage." Luna callously commented not knowing that she was slowly driving a wedge between Makoto and the other girls.

Makoto looked ready to kill the black-furred cat for insulting her family's history like it was something to be ashamed about. However, she understood that the cat was most likely viewing this from the Moon Kingdom's culture. But still to insult a person's heritage without knowing the person's cultural background was a pretty stupid thing to do. Ami quickly decided to explain the significance of such claims to Luna, when she noticed the murderous look that Makoto was giving to Usagi's feline advisor.

"Luna, many of the descendants from these samurai families have connections to the Japanese government or are heirs to a zaibastu corporation or a keiretsu enterprise. Thus, they have great amount of power, resources, and influence at their disposal." The smartest girl at Jūban Municipal Junior High School commented as she tried to defuse the situation before it got violent.

It was at this moment that Usagi realized where she had heard the name Kino before. It should have been extremely obvious to her as she constantly used their products every time she visited the Game Center Crown.

"Hey Makoto, is there by any chance that you're related to the family that founded the Kino corporation?" the blonde haired leader of the Sailor Scouts asked as she looked at her brunette friend with a somewhat devious look in her eyes.

Both Ami and Rei looked at Makoto with wide eyes as they recognized the name of one of Japan's biggest corporations. In fact, it was considered the last true zaibastu corporations in Japan as the occupying Americans had been extremely reluctant to dismantle an organization that was producing dozens of vital goods for the Japanese people following the end of the Second World War. In fact both girls had heard the parents speak about the company on numerous occasions. Ami's mother would often complain about the amount of studying that she had to do every time the company developed a new piece of medical equipment, while Rei's father would be forced to take a call from them during his short visits to the Hikawa Shrine.

Makoto let out a sigh of defeat as she knew that her friends deserved to know the truth about how she was able live on her own without any adults to run her life. However, she had a justifiable worry that they would start treating her differently once they knew the truth.

"Before I divulge anything to you guys that no matter what I tell you, I want you to promise me that you won't change your opinions about me." She asked as she recalled how some of her former friends had started using her as their own personal ATM machine when they learned the truth.

The Sailor Scouts and Luna nodded their heads in agreement as they wanted to know more about their new friend and ally.

"I'm the great-great-great-great granddaughter of the man that founded the trading company that would eventually evolve into the Kino Zaibatsu Corporation. So that makes me the heiress to one of the most powerful companies in Japan." Makoto reluctantly commented as she closed her eyes tightly in anticipation to the loud shouts of surprise from her friends.

The four other occupants in the room looked at their friend with widen eyes at the same admitted news that she was the sole heiress to a company that made several dozen American corporations look like they were a bunch of small-time companies. For the girls, they were shocked that they're friend would be so embarrassed by this information that she would keep it a secret from everybody. But for Luna, this wasn't that surprising to hear as the Kingdom of Jupiter had always been the wealthiest of the moon kingdom's vassals due to its mercantile economy and the business savvy of its rulers. It seemed that the apple didn't fall very far from the tree with Princess Lita's reincarnation.

"Wait a second, Makoto! If you're so rich then why are you going to a public school, instead of a private school like I am?" Rei asked with some confusion as her father had used the family's wealth to send her to a private catholic school.

The other girls looked puzzled by this question as well as Makoto could easily afford the tuition fees that came with enrolling into an elite private school that were scattered across the city of Tokyo. Even Luna was also curious as to why she wasn't at one of these schools as well as it seemed befitting of a person of her status.

"In my parents' wills, they had left explicit instructions that I was to attend public school in order to better connect with the people that buy the company's products. Despite their concerns about my safety, the board of directors that's running the company obeyed their final wishes and sent me to public schools under a false name until recently." She answered as she recalled how several of the female board members would come to visit her to see if she doing alright on her own.

Thankfully, those visits had steadily decreased as the years went by and she was slowly granted more independence by the board. However, she had a gut feeling that some of the more senior members would try something to secure their family a position of great power within the company.

The girls and Luna became silent at the news that she was simply obeying the wishes of her dead parents. Most of the Sailor Scouts in the room didn't know what it was like to grow up without having their parents around them. So they didn't understand that Makoto was simply doing things that her parents had planned for her due before they're untimely deaths. No wanting to focus on such a depressing topic any further, Usagi turned on the small television that was sitting in the corner of the room.

Instantly, the television set showed a perky Japanese woman that was holding a microphone in her left hand and had the biggest grin that anybody had ever seen.

"_Move over, Sailor Scouts and Power Rangers. Because there's a new hero in the world and he's operating in the sunny state of California."_ The woman announced to everybody that was watching the news channel.

At hearing that a new hero had appeared in the United States, the girls and Luna's head perked up. When they first heard that the United States was having its own problems with alien invaders, it brought them a small amount of comfort to know that they weren't the only teens that were fighting against the forces of evil. However, that small comfort was quickly squashed by Luna as she pointed out that these power rangers would most likely become a threat to reestablishing the Silver Millennium. So to hear that America had gotten another hero proved that the world's strongest democracy was going to be the hardest nut to crack when it came time to unify the world under one banner.

"_This new hero operates out of the small town of Sunnydale, California and seems to be fighting against creatures that can only be described as demonic in origin. But the real kicker is the hero's appearance as he's dressed as a ninja of all things and he uses equipment that has long been associated with the ninja."_ The reporter commented as a black-and-white video shot of what the new hero looked like appeared on the screen.

Luna's fur instantly became pale as a white bed sheet as she stared at the video image of the warrior. It was an image of a man that was dressed in the traditional garb that operatives of the Brotherhood of Shadows wore into the field. During the height of the Silver Millennium, the Brotherhood of Shadows had been a cadre of thieves, assassins, mercenaries, spies, and spiritualists that were feared throughout the known galaxy for their mastery of espionage, sabotage, and assassination. The Moon Kingdom's government often employed these highly-secretive warriors to handle top-secret missions that were too vital to the kingdom's security that the regular military couldn't be trusted to handle them. But the most notable fact about the order was that their most infamous member happened to be Queen Serenity's oldest child, Prince Tastumaru.

"_Is it possible that some members of the brotherhood managed to survive the destruction of the Moon Kingdom?"_ the female feline advisor to Sailor Moon thought to herself as she watched the image was replaced by the news reporter.

Personally, she hoped that wasn't the case as Usagi didn't have the necessary charisma to recruit the possible remnants to the Sailor Scouts' cause of restoring the Moon Kingdom. It had taken all of Queen Serenity's political maneuvering skills to get the Brotherhood to submit to her authority the last time. However, she decided to continue watching the news in the hopes that this new hero wasn't a member of an order that was supposed to be extinct.

"_We have footage of this new hero attacking the Oni after the demon had ruthlessly murdered over thirty-five people using some unknown magic. All of the Oni's victims were inside of the town's mall and were participating in activities that were being held in celebration of the complex's opening. Before this new hero appeared an unknown group equipped with crossbows and European Longswords tried to stop the mass murdering monster using what is assumed to be a stolen military rocket launcher, only to misfire the weapon and hitting a small group of panicking civilians that were taking shelter inside of a small restaurant."_ The reporter spoke as she explained the tragedy that was being labeled the Sunnydale Massacre by the news media.

At hearing that over thirty people had been killed before this monstrous Oni had been stopped, the Sailor Scouts placed their hands over their mouths in horror. Even Luna was appalled by the causalities that had been inflicted to an innocent group of people.

"_Thankfully, the mysterious hero arrived to save the day by crashing through the mall complex's glass roof ceiling before he quickly moved to attack the Oni before it could reuse its attack."_ The reporter commented with a glassed over look in her eyes as what she had said sounded like something from an action movie.

At hearing of the grand entrance that this new hero had made before stopping this demon, Luna was instantly sure that this hero was actually a surviving shadow warrior of the Moon Kingdom as that was a standard maneuver of the hidden guardians. A warrior would do something extremely bold and daring to catch the target's attention, while a second member of the order would move in for the kill.

The reporter suddenly put her free hand on her ear piece like she was receiving new information from somebody. Her eyes widen for a brief second before returning to normal, this got the Sailor Scouts and Luna curious about what was going on.

"_I have just receive word that we now have a colored image of this mysterious ninja and we're about to show it to you. So if you see this person in your area, the government requests that you leave him alone and allow him to perform his task."_ The reporter spoke with a stern look that showed that she was serious about what she had said.

The previous video image of the unknown ninja reappeared in color form. The warrior's skin had taken on the color that marked him as a Caucasian westerner, while the irises of his eyes had become amber in color.

Makoto took a noticeably loud inhale of air as visions of her past-life spending romantic evenings with a young man that had spiky white-hair, amber eyes, and was dressed in the same type clothing as the new hero wore. As more visions of her past life began flashing inside of her mind, Makoto's skin started to become cold and clammy. It was Ami that was the first to notice something wrong with the newest sailor scout.

"What's the matter, Makoto?" the blue-haired girl awkwardly asked as she wasn't use to bring things to everybody's attention.

The other Sailor Scouts and Luna turned their attention away from the T.V. to see what was going on. They instantly became alarmed as sweat began to roll down Makoto's forehead like a miniature waterfall. They began wondering if something had happen during their fight with the Dark Kingdom's youma or during the sudden appearance of the dark samurai known as Dōku.

"My beloved." Makoto managed to whisper out before collapsing onto the floor.

* * *

**For this chapter, I wanted to show that the Dark One isn't solely focusing on Xander. I know that some of you guys are going to complain about the fact that I made the Dark One look completely ruthless in one chapter, but made him into an honorable warrior in another one. I fully intended to have the Dark One being a completely ruthless being that was devoid of any human compassion, but at the same time I wanted him to be a villain that followed a strict code of honor.**

**Now for the reason why I made Makoto an heiress to a major corporation was to explain why she was able to live on her own at the age of fourteen. I mean that was the only feasible idea I could come up with at two o'clock in the morning. So if you guys have any ideas, please tell me.**

**Alright for the next chapter, I will be focusing on the events that are described in the news report that was at the end of this chapter. So you should expect Xander consciously transforming into his shadow warrior form in the next chapter. So with being said, please leave a review with your thoughts and comments about the chapter.**

**Until next time, readers. Hoorah to Ashes!**


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